Category Archives: Announcements

Announcements

7 Reasons to Join The Collard Community Seed Selection Project

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In case you haven’t already heard, we’re very excited about a project we’ve been working on, The Collard Community Selection Project. Last year, SESE, The Utopian Seed Project, and seven other trial sites grew a total of 21 heirloom collard varieties that were allowed to cross.

We’re now offering the Utopian Ultracross Collard as part of The Collard Community Selection Project.

The project’s objective is to save seeds from the most cold tolerant and tasty collards while preserving a wide diversity of types and colors. You can also save seeds based on your own selection criteria or not save seeds and simply enjoy the unknown wonders that these seeds contain!

  1. Learn how to save seed.

    When you join the community seed selection project, you’ll receive help and support to become a seed steward. The Utopian Seed Project will provide educational materials and videos to help you on your journey.

  2. You’re helping preserve genetic diversity.

    This variety represents a massive amount of genetic diversity. Twenty-one heirloom collards have been crossed! This project will help create more seed stewards and another open-pollinated variety for folks to grow for years to come.

  3. Come together with other gardeners.

    Sadly, we may not be able to come together in person during these pandemic times. However, we can come together as gardeners, food stewards, and seed savers.

  4. Reclaim rights to open-pollinated seeds.

    When you save and share seeds, you’re helping to support everyone’s right to save and grow seeds and breed plants. Learn more about this over at the Open Source Seed Initiative. 

  5. Adapt seeds to your garden.

    As you continue to save seeds from these collards and any other plants, you will slowly adapt them to your garden. Saving seed from the strongest will create plants that do well in your local climate. You can also select for any other desired traits.

  6. Support The Utopian Seed Project.

    The Utopian Seed Project is a crop trialing non-profit based in western North Carolina. Their vision is to develop a regional seed hub that can support, encourage and celebrate a diverse food system of regionally adapted crops. 50% of all packet sales go straight to supporting their work, and your contribution to helping save seed is priceless!

  7. It will be an adventure!

    As noted above, the project’s goal is to seek cold-tolerant, tasty collards. We are already one year into that selection, but given the broad cross-pollination of this seed mix, we are likely to experience a WIDE range of traits and outcomes (some good, some maybe not so good!). Enjoy the excitement with us.

Resources

If you decide to participate, we’ll be in contact to offer support and further resources will be available. For now, you can check out these links.

Order your seeds now to have time to grow your collard plants for the over-wintering trial and to enjoy fall-winter harvests! Plants sown now through early fall will be ready for seed harvest next year in late spring.

Announcements

BIPOC Communities & The Sustainable Food Movement

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This past week we’ve been sharing folks from BIPOC communities that are involved in the sustainable food movement on our Facebook page. There are so many amazing people we’d love to share so we’ve also put together a longer list.

Moving forward, we’ll strive to do better and make it a point to share content from BIPOC herbalists, farmers, chefs, gardeners, writers, and activists as part of our regular social media.

Note: in an attempt to organize this post we’ve grouped people/organizations under a few basic categories. However, many of these incredible people are changing their community through more than one medium. Some folks are herbalists, farmers, and writers while others are gardeners, podcasters, and teachers. 

Farms/Farmers/Gardeners

Herbalists

Foragers

Artists (Chefs, Writers, Podcasters, etc.)

Teachers/Activists

Organizations that Support BIPOC Farmers

We know this isn’t a comprehensive list. Our hope for this post was to share the work of just a few of the many folks involved in the sustainable food movement. If you know someone who should be listed feel free to share them in the comments here or on our Facebook page.

Please consider supporting these people and organizations through donations or purchases of their products if you’re able. You can also volunteer and/or follow them on social media and help share their content.

Announcements

AHS Honors Ira Wallace with Paul Ecke Jr. Commercial Award

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Alexandria, VA (March 19, 2019). Ira Wallace, co-owner of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (SESE), has been named the 2019 recipient of the American Horticultural Society’s (AHS) Paul Ecke Jr. Commercial Award, which is awarded to an individual or company whose commitment to the highest standards of excellence in the field of commercial horticulture contributes to the betterment of gardening practices everywhere 

The award is one of the Great American Gardeners Awards that the AHS presents annually to individuals, organizations, and businesses that represent the best in American gardening. Each of the recipients has contributed significantly to fields such as scientific research, garden communication, landscape design, youth gardening, and conservation.

A passionate proponent of heirloom and open pollinated seeds, Wallace cooperatively manages SESE with other members of the Acorn Community Farm in Mineral, Virginia. She has been instrumental in growing SESE into a successful supplier of more than 700 varieties of seeds that are carefully selected for superior flavor and performance in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. 

With SESE as a successful model, Wallace advocates for democratizing the seed supply and providing broader access to healthy, flavorful food. She cofounded the annual Heritage Harvest Festival in 2007 at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello estate, which exposes thousands of visitors to heirloom plants and promotes their preservation. She also works on a global scale through partnerships with Seed Programs International, providing seeds and education to impoverished farmers abroad. She is the author of The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast (2013), and a board member of the Organic Seed Alliance. 

On Friday, June 21, 2019, the AHS will honor Wallace and the other award recipients during the Great American Gardeners Awards Ceremony and Banquet, held at the Society’s River Farm headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. For full descriptions of each award and brief biographies of this year’s recipients, please visit our 2019 Award Winners.

About the American Horticultural Society

The American Horticultural Society, founded in 1922, is an educational, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization that recognizes and promotes excellence in American horticulture. One of the oldest and most prestigious gardening organizations, AHS is dedicated to making America a nation of gardeners, a land of gardens. Its mission is to open the eyes of all Americans to the vital connection between people and plants, to inspire all Americans to become responsible caretakers of the Earth, to celebrate America’s diversity through the art and science of horticulture, and to lead this effort by sharing the Society’s unique national resources with all Americans.

*The above is a copy of the AHS press release.