2022 Seed Savers Exchange Catalog

The latest tantalizing annual catalog from Seed Savers Exchange (SSE), featuring open-pollinated, untreated, non-hybrid, and non-GMO seeds, is now available online; a print copy of the 2022 catalog can also be requested free of charge.

Founded in 1975 by Diane Ott Whealy and Kent Whealy, Seed Savers Exchange is now the largest non-governmental seed bank of its kind in the United States. With over 13,000 members, SSE conserves and maintains heirloom seeds for thousands of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. Its mission is: 

. . . to save North America's diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity.

Located on the 890-acre Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa, SSE is open to visitors from April to October, and sponsors special events such as seed starting, grafting, and gardening workshops. It also hosts an annual conference and campout. To learn more about Seed Savers Exchange and the benefits of membership, visit its website.

New Seeds for a New Year

The latest tantalizing annual catalog from Seed Savers Exchange (SSE), featuring heirloom, untreated, non-hybrid, and non-GMO seeds, is now available online; a print copy of the 2021 catalog can also be requested free of charge.

Founded in 1975 by Diane Ott Whealy and Kent Whealy, Seed Savers Exchange is now the largest non-governmental seed bank of its kind in the United States. With over 13,000 members, SSE conserves and maintains heirloom seeds for thousands of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. Its mission is: 

. . . to save North America's diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity.

Located on the 890-acre Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa, SSE is open to visitors from April to October, and sponsors special events such as seed starting, grafting, and gardening workshops. It also hosts an annual conference and campout. To learn more about Seed Savers Exchange and the benefits of membership, visit its website.

After 4.54 Billion Earth Years, 50 Earth Days

Earth Day was first celebrated fifty years ago on April 22, 1970. Founded by former US Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in, Earth Day is now coordinated by Earth Day Network, with extensive programming and events around the world. In 2009, the United Nations also declared April 22 to be International Mother Earth Day, an observance that "recognizes a collective responsibility, as called for in the 1992 Rio Declaration, to promote harmony with nature and the Earth to achieve a just balance among the economic, social and environmental needs of present and future generations of humanity." Look magazine first published the ecology flag shown above on April 21, 1970. The theta symbol on the flag represents the conjoining of "e" for environment and "o" for organism. 

Gardening for the Future with Heirloom Seeds

The latest tantalizing annual catalog from Seed Savers Exchange (SSE), featuring heirloom, untreated, non-hybrid, and non-GMO seeds, is now available online; a print copy of the 2020 catalog can also be requested free of charge online. 

Founded in 1975 by Diane Ott Whealy and Kent Whealy, Seed Savers Exchange is now the largest non-governmental seed bank of its kind in the United States. With over 13,000 members, SSE conserves and maintains heirloom seeds for thousands of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. Its mission is: 

. . . to save North America's diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity.

Located on the 890-acre Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa, SSE is open to visitors from April to October, and sponsors special events such as seed starting, grafting, and gardening workshops. It also hosts an annual conference and campout. To learn more about Seed Savers Exchange and the benefits of membership, visit its website.

Global #ClimateStrike: September 20 & 27, 2019

Millions worldwide will be joining thousands of youth-led events in over 100 countries to mobilize for effective responses to the environmental consequences of fossil fuels. To learn more and to locate a climate strike near you, visit the Global Climate Strike website.

Of related interest, see the earlier Common Curator posts: Climate of Concern: Shell's 1991 Warning of Global Environmental Damage; James Hansen: Why I Must Speak Out about Climate Change; and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Champions of Change for Sustainable and Climate-Smart Agriculture).

Earth Day: 1970 to the Present

Earth Day was first celebrated on April 22, 1970. Founded by former US Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in, Earth Day is now coordinated by Earth Day Network, with extensive programming and events around the world. In 2009, the United Nations also declared April 22 to be International Mother Earth Day, an observance that "recognizes a collective responsibility, as called for in the 1992 Rio Declaration, to promote harmony with nature and the Earth to achieve a just balance among the economic, social and environmental needs of present and future generations of humanity." Look magazine first published the ecology flag shown above on April 21, 1970.

Seed Savers Exchange Conference & Campout

Registration is now open for the 38th annual Seed Savers Exchange Conference & Campout to be held July 20-21, 2018. The event will feature speakers, tours, and other activities on the grounds of Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa. Program speakers and topics include: Marilyn McHugh & Chris Kennedy (Life in the Soil--A Journey); John Whitman (On Cold Climate Gardening); Rosalind Creasy (Edible Landscaping); Jovan Savage (The Migration of Southern Foodways); and, Rowan White & Lee Buttala (Keeping Seeds Where They Belong--in situ and ex situ Preservation). A full schedule as well as registration details can be viewed on the conference website.

For Earth Day, Plant a Tree or a Forest

Earth Day was first celebrated on April 22, 1970. Founded by former US Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in, Earth Day is now coordinated by Earth Day Network, with extensive programming and events around the world. In 2009, the United Nations also declared April 22 to be International Mother Earth Day, an observance that "recognizes a collective responsibility, as called for in the 1992 Rio Declaration, to promote harmony with nature and the Earth to achieve a just balance among the economic, social and environmental needs of present and future generations of humanity."

To commemorate both Earth Day and the upcoming Arbor Day, check out The Forest Where Ashley Lives, an educational book about the value and care of urban forests. Written by Mark A. and the eponymous Ashley L. Vitosh, and illustrated by John L. Smith, it is intended for elementary school readers. The book has won an Arbor Day Foundation Education Award, and was published by Iowa State University Extension; a PDF version is available for download from Urban Forestry South.

Heirloom Variety Is the Spice of Life

The always-amazing annual catalog from Seed Savers Exchange (SSE), featuring heirloom, untreated, non-hybrid, and non-GMO seeds, is now available online; a print copy of the 2018 catalog can also be requested free of charge online.

Founded in 1975 by Diane Ott Whealy and Kent Whealy, Seed Savers Exchange is now the largest non-governmental seed bank of its kind in the United States. With over 13,000 members, SSE conserves and maintains heirloom seeds for thousands of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. Its mission is: 

. . . to save North America's diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity.

Located on the 890-acre Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa, SSE is open to visitors from April to October, and sponsors special events such as seed starting, grafting, and gardening workshops. It also hosts an annual conference and campout. To learn more about Seed Savers Exchange and the benefits of membership, visit its website.

March for Science on Earth Day

The March for Science will be held on Earth Day, April 22, 2017, in Washington, D.C. and at several hundred satellite locations throughout the United States and around the world. Thousands of scientists and scientific-minded individuals will be marching in solidarity to support the work of the scientific community and the critical role it plays in formulating sound, evidence-based public policy, particularly in the realms of public health and environmental protection.

The March for Science "champions robustly funded and publicly communicated science," and its stated goals for the upcoming event are to:

humanize science; partner with the public; advocate for open, inclusive, and accessible science; support scientists; and, affirm science as a democratic value. 

Further information about the movement's goals and principles, as well details about local marches, can be found on the March for Science web site. Be there or be square!

Climate of Concern: Shell's 1991 Warning of Global Environmental Damage

In 1991, the multinational oil company Shell released Climate of Concern, an educational video warning of the risks of environmental damage on a global scale due to climate change caused by the increasing consumption of fossil fuels. Confidential reports as early as 1986 document Shell's awareness of the risks of anthropogenic climate change, but the 1991 video has not been widely available (WorldCat shows that it is apparently only held by the Bibliothèque nationale de France). The Correspondent recently acquired a copy, and it can also be viewed at their website.

Plant Ahead with the 2017 Catalog from Seed Savers Exchange

The always-amazing annual catalog from Seed Savers Exchange (SSE), featuring heirloom, untreated, non-hybrid, and non-GMO seeds, is now available in print; a copy can be requested free of charge here. 

Founded in 1975 by Diane Ott Whealy and Kent Whealy, Seed Savers Exchange is now the largest non-governmental seed bank of its kind in the United States. With over 13,000 members, SSE conserves and maintains heirloom seeds for thousands of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. Its mission is:

. . . to save North America's diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity.

Located on the 890-acre Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa, SSE is open to visitors from April to October, and sponsors special events such as seed starting, grafting, and gardening workshops. It also hosts an annual conference and campout. To learn more about Seed Savers Exchange and the benefits of membership, visit its website.

Campaign for New Seed Vault at Seed Savers Exchange

Seed Savers Exchange (SSE), one of world's leading organizations dedicated to the preservation of heirloom seeds, has launched a fundraising campaign through Indiegogo's Generosity platform to raise $80,000 for an upgraded and enlarged facility to house its growing collection of over 20,000 varieties of seeds. The current storage space has developed structural issues that could potentially compromise the integrity of the collection. To learn more about the project, or to make a contribution, please visit SSE's campaign webpage.

National Park Service Centennial

One hundred years ago on August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation to create the National Park Service (NPS), with the mandate "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."

In 2015 alone, more than 300 million people visited the 412 different areas in the park system, which covers over 84 million acres in every state, as well as the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. To help plan future visits, the NPS website provides a Find a Park tool that offers information about the many sites of interest.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the NPS, the U.S. Postal Service issued a set of 16 stamps with images of various well-known parks. The oldest park in the system is Yellowstone National Park, which was created through a bill signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. The Yellowstone stamp features the silhouettes of two bison, which coincidentally became the national mammal when President Obama signed the National Bison Legacy Act into law on May 9, 2016.

Once numbering in the tens of millions in North America, bison were hunted to near extinction in the nineteenth century. In 1905, Theodore Roosevelt and William Hornaday formed the American Bison Society in an attempt to help save the species. Today, bison herds on public lands managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior support around 10,000 bison; Yellowstone has the largest of these herds, with a population estimated at 4,900 as of last summer.

2016 Seed Savers Exchange Conference

Registration is now open for the 36th annual Seed Savers Exchange Conference & Campout to be held July 15-17, 2016. The event will feature numerous speakers, workshops, and other activities on the grounds of Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa. Dr. Carol Deppe of Fertile Valley Seeds will be the keynote speaker; other speakers include Southern heirloom experts Dr. David Shields and Glenn Roberts; The French Laundry garden chef, Aaron Keefer; and community seed activist Rowen White. A full schedule as well as registration details can be viewed on the conference website.

Get a Jump on 2016 with Heirloom Seeds

The amazing 2016 Catalog from Seed Savers Exchange, featuring heirloom, untreated, non-hybrid, and non-GMO seeds, is now available online as a PDF; alternatively, a copy in print can be requested free of charge.

Founded in 1975 by Diane Ott Whealy and Kent Whealy, Seed Savers Exchange is now the largest non-governmental seed bank of its kind in the United States. With over 13,000 members, SSE conserves and maintains heirloom seeds for thousands of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. Its mission is:

. . . to save North America's diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity.

Located on the 890-acre Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa, SSE is open to visitors from April to October, and sponsors special events such as seed starting, grafting, and gardening workshops. It also hosts an annual conference and campout. To learn more about Seed Savers Exchange and the benefits of membership, visit its website.

Scenes from Seed Savers Exchange's Annual Conference at Heritage Farm

The above photographs were taken at Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa during the 35th Annual Conference and Campout at Seed Savers Exchange held July 17-19, 2015.

Plant the New Year with Heirloom Seeds

The tantalizing 2015 Catalog from Seed Savers Exchange marks the organization's 40th anniversary, and is now available online; alternatively, a copy in print can be requested free of charge.

Founded in 1975 by Diane Ott Whealy and Kent Whealy, Seed Savers Exchange is now the largest non-governmental seed bank of its kind in the United States. With over 13,000 members, SSE conserves and maintains heirloom seeds for thousands of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. Its mission is:

. . . to save North America's diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity.

Located on the 890-acre Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa, SSE is open to visitors from April to October, and sponsors special events such as seed starting, grafting, and gardening workshops. It also hosts an annual conference and campout. To learn more about Seed Savers Exchange and the benefits of membership, visit its website.

From Billions to None: The Extinction of the Passenger Pigeon

The last known passenger pigeon, called Martha, after Mrs. Washington, the first First Lady of the United States, died on September 1, 1914 at the Cincinnati Zoo. Although the murmurations depicted in the trailer for the documentary, From Billions to None: The Passenger Pigeon's Flight to Extinction, are not particularly convincing simulations of the long-gone massive flocks, the story of the extinction of a superabundant avian species is nevertheless a fascinating if unfortunate one. It is estimated that the passenger pigeon, once the most common bird in North America, had attained a population of several billion at its peak in the 19th century. Project Passenger Pigeon, organized by scientists, educators, conservationists, and others, seeks to provide "lessons from the past for a sustainable future."

Scenes from the Seed Savers Exchange's Annual Conference at Heritage Farm

The above photographs were taken at Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa during the 34th Annual Conference and Campout at Seed Savers Exchange held July 18-20, 2014.

From the top: View of barn and tents; painting by Valerie Miller of Steel Cow Studio; Diane's Garden adjacent to the barn with Lillian Goldman Visitors Center at rear; a workshop session in the Diversity Garden; Professor Susan McCouch of Cornell University delivering her keynote address, "Gene Flow and Genetic Isolation: A Case Study in Rice"; taste-testing of SSE produce; several photos of pollinators in action; Ancient White Park cattle at pasture.