Remaining seeded

December 4, 2018 8:29 AM

Native Seeds/SEARCH preserves indigenous food strains

Native Seeds/SEARCH grew out of a project to encourage food gardens, including on the Tohono O’odham Nation, where participants would ask for seeds of traditional crops. A seed exchange became part of the program. The need to make sure that these varieties were not lost, by collecting them and encouraging their use, became the core of NS/S’s mission.

posted by poffin boffin (5 comments total)

"When people are afraid of GMOs and afraid of this and that, they put their energy there. We have finite time and energy on earth. Are we going to spend it being afraid of the things we don’t like, or are we going to leverage that energy to build a future that we do want?" I love this - be proactive instead of hunkering down in fear. And it's something we can do as individuals.
posted by leslies at 8:51 AM on December 4, 2018

I've got an indeterminate tomato with multi-chambers that's red and has a feature I've seen in some yellows where the blossom end scab keeps spreading as it grows bigger and bigger. It comes from a line that wins size awards in MN and with its 1-2 lbs fruit hope to become a local winner if they'd stop splitting as they grow.
posted by rough ashlar at 10:38 AM on December 4, 2018

Hey, I ordered some chili powder from their online store a few months ago! It's good stuff.
posted by gimonca at 3:16 PM on December 4, 2018

This group is amazing. Their storefront in Tucson is worth checking out for sure. I think they are also behind the “seed library” that many libraries in Tucson have, where you can “check out” a packet of locally grown and adapted seeds for free, grow them, collect the seeds and bring them back to the library. I had so much fun growing tepary beans from them during the monsoon and they were delicious also.
posted by permiechickie at 7:26 PM on December 4, 2018 [2 favorites]

These people are awesome. They helped me turn an oil-stained dirt car park into a small but lush desert oasis with flowers and bunnies and chipmunks and really weird plants a couple of years ago.

I think they're one of the reasons Tucson is so dedicated to using native plants in our landscaping; Tucson doesn't believe in lawns. Which is one of the reasons why we're using as much water now as we did in 1983, despite our population having boomed. And they're definitely one of the reasons we were recently designated a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.

It might seem a bit weird that Tucson of all places is a haven for interest in seed biodiversity, but this area has been cultivated for over four thousand years.
posted by MrVisible at 5:24 AM on December 5, 2018 [2 favorites]