Did you know that in the United States over the last century, thousands of crop and livestock varieties have been lost? Until the advent of industrial agribusiness, native peoples and immigrants alike deeply valued their agricultural heritage and were the stewards of biodiversity. They saved seed from year to year, and over time developed a remakable array of locally-adapted, open-pollinated crop varieties and distinctive livestock breeds. But over time, scientific advances in plant breeding such as hybridization - and now genetically engineered crops - combined with corporate consolidation of seed companies and large-scale mono-crop dominated farms - has led to a profound loss of biodiversity. Many of our public policy choices in favor of a low-priced, standardized, subsidized commodity-based food supply has helped drive these changes.
Luckily, networks of backyard growers and small-scale farmers, as well as non-profits like Seed Savers Exchange and Native Seeds/SEARCH, have helped to preserve what remains of our agricultural heritage. The Renewing America's Food Tradtions Alliance, or RAFT, helps promote the preservation of America's biologically and culturally diverse food traditions. The Ark of Taste is Slow Food USA's catalog of foods and breeds in danger of extinction.
This year, Slow Food Utah invites members, backyard gardeners, and small-scale market growers to participate in our Ark of Taste Seed Grow-Out. We have selected about a dozen varieties from the USA Ark listing that should do well in Utah, and purchased them from Seed Savers Exchange in bulk. We will be donating seeds at various events for home and school gardeners to trial in their gardens. For example, we participated in the January 31 People's Market Seed Swap , where we gave away sampler packets of seeds to dozens of people. We'll have more seeds available at upcoming Slow Food Utah events if you missed the swap.
For those of you who accepted seeds, we ask two things in return:
- Find a little space in your garden for the seeds this year; and
- Share your experiences with us by posting gardening tips, stories, tasting notes, and recipes here on our blog.
Additionally, we encourage you to learn how to save seeds yourself, and to become a caretaker of one or more varieties you have chosen. Each crop has very specific seed saving requirements, so if you haven't saved seeds before do a little reading around so you keep the variety pure and select the best specimens. The Seed Savers Exchange Vegetable Planting and Seed Saving Instructions page is a good place to start.
To post to this blog, you'll need to register and join our portal by setting up a free login. We promise we won't use your information for commercial purposes, or share with other organizations.
If you are a market grower interested in trying out an Ark variety, please contact us directly about getting larger quantities of seed. Our micro-grant program can help pay for them.
Happy gardening, and we look forward to hearing from you!
[Webmeister's Note: See also Slow Food Utah News "A Love of Gardening Sprouts." ]