As we busily thresh and winnow the last of the 2016 seed crops under the 70 degree November sun, I heard a climate change denier has just been appointed to head the EPA. Perhaps our future offerings will include figs and olives! Nevertheless, the close of the 2016 growing season and the start of the 2016/17 seed slinging season brings me great pride and comfort. Hundreds of jars of locally-grown seeds are now tucked safely inside our walk in cooler, awaiting their journey into your hands, your gardens, and your kitchens to claim their place in the tapestry of your culture.
Each seed my mentor, I marvel at how much a small group of conscientious growers, retailers, and consumers can collectively change business as usual by spending some portion of our time doing very small, impactful things. A tiny seed will come completely undone, cracking itself open and plunging upward in the hope of finding light and nourishment. When it does, it will grow and flower with everything it has and make hundreds of seeds where just one was planted. A tiny gardener, choosing to plant a seed that was grown in her own bioregion, sows not only a season of bountiful food but a viable livelihood for her seed farmer, who can continue to grow seeds for her neighbors for years to come. An independent garden center who chooses to carry locally-grown seeds sees the impact of their choice multiplied ten-fold in the economics of their community.
Last year, 17 local farmers expanded their farm models to include growing seeds for Snake River Seed Co-op. Together, we grew and sold over 25,000 packets of seeds around Idaho. That's 25,000 packets of seeds that didn't exist 5 years ago. This year, we worked with 17 local farmers to steward 258 varieties of seeds, which with each generation of planting, selecting, and saving, are becoming more adapted to our unique place on earth. This year, we expanded outside the Treasure and Magic Valleys, adding excellent growers from Moscow, Orofino, and Twisp, Washington, and we've been expanding our efforts into the northern and eastern parts of Idaho to unite us in the beautiful work of growing seeds!
It is not easy for these farmers to include seed production in their already full farm schedules, but we are making the effort and doing it because we appreciate the reality of where we are at, seed-wise:
-We're losing seed biodiversity--over 95% of the seed varieties that were commercially available in 1900 have been lost, or abandoned in favor of more lucrative and uniform industrial hybrids that require more synthetic fertilizers and by nature require the farmer to buy new seed from the company every year.
-We're losing bioregional seed companies--in 1970, there were over 3,000 seed companies in the US. Now, with impending corporate mergers, three multinational chemical/seed companies will own over 75% of the world's seeds. Snake River Seed Co-op is part of a growing movement to put seeds back into the hands of the farmers and gardeners in our communities who are better able to steward them like the treasures they are, ensuring the future of our bioregional food security.
-We've lost our connection with our food, and especially our seeds. Even though the local food movement is picking up steam, we largely still see seeds as just another faceless input that can be bought from wherever. Without locally-grown seeds, we don't have a viable local food system. As we've worked to expand access and production of seeds right here, we've learned the crucial lesson--locally-grown seeds react to our place, adapting themselves each year to better grow in our unique climate and soils. Every year we save and replant a seed in the Intermountain West, we bring it that much more into harmony with our farms and gardens, so every year we grow better and better gardens and better and better seeds! Each of our growers has contributed in vital and unique ways to the co-op, amid the ever-present challenges of farming.
James Loomis of Salacia Farm brings us Mammoth Basil and Marketmore Cucumbers despite half his crop being lost in a fire that consumed a large Acai berry hedge at his farm this summer. Anaka Mines of Twisp River Farm grew Yellowstone carrots and Hungarian Blue poppies while growing a baby--she's due December 15th! Mike Sommer of Purple Sage Farm showed up with a veritable haul of Dragon Carrots and Culinary Sage amid building a certified kitchen on his farm. Earthly Delights Farm trained 6 new interns in the art of small-scale seed and produce production. In the midst of my husband's work accident and recovery, they learned how to plant, isolate, rogue, harvest, thresh, winnow, decant, and dry over 75 varieties of seeds in the middle of Boise. Lori Bevan at Field Goods Farm gained, lost, and regained farmland this year, contributing Dwarf Scotch Blue Curled Kale and Armenian Cucumbers despite her uncertain situation. Carrie Jones at Draggin' Wing Farm managed to grow Cuore di Capra Tomatoes and King of the North Peppers in addition to starting graduate school and raising her daughter as a single mom, and her mom Diane helped her clean her remaining seed crops amid her own ever-expanding offerings of native and drought-tolerant flower seeds to the co-op. Dana Rassmussen at Fellowship Farms nervously waited out a solid month of excessive rains in Paul, Idaho, to thresh his windrowed bean seeds.
All of our farmers make extraordinary efforts to bring us the food and seeds they grow each year. Each seed in our collection comes with it a remarkable history, from domestication through countless generations of hands who have cared for and improved and passed it down to the next steward. Each seed carries bold, shining hope for an abundant future of delicious nourishment and lively culture. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for caring about these tiny seeds and choosing to support our efforts by planting them in your farms and gardens. In the uncertain future ahead, we will continue to plant these little bundles of hope, and by their generosity we will collectively reap what we sow.
