Sown and Saved: "Seeds have always been shared," says Kevin Welch, founder of the Center for Cherokee Plants. "It's actually atypical not to share seeds is our culture." Photo by Carrie Eidson.
A small seed in the palm of your hand may not look like much; however, within that seed there is incalculable potential. Not only do seeds carry the genetic makeup of their parent plants — traits carefully selected by farmers throughout human history — they are also powerfully symbolic, representing regional food security, self-sufficiency, cultural heritage and independence. But in order to pass down a seed to the next generation, it must be sown and it must be saved.
Home gardeners, with a little reading and research, can help keep plant diversity alive. Interested in saving seeds of your own? Here’s some additional readings recommended by Richard Boylan.
In Western North Carolina, the Cherokee Indians were the original agriculturists of the Appalachian Mountains. “A lot of what is considered [Appalachian] mountain agriculture actually comes from folks that came to the area learning from the Native Americans,” says Kevin Welch, who started the Center for Cherokee Plants in Cherokee, which is dedicated to saving plant varieties culturally significant to the tribe.
Common as the practice may once have been, Welch does report a decline in the use of heirloom seeds — or open-pollinated seed that has been preserved and passed down — in favor of commercially available hybrid seeds. Welch says he left his previous job as an engineer to focus on seed-saving — in large part because he saw a threat to the practice.
With the industrialization of agriculture, heirloom varieties are being replaced by monoculture crops genetically engineered to produce higher yields in less time, Welch explains. Most open-pollinated seeds, though they fruit a little later and yield a little less, are acclimatized to their specific area — meaning they are generally more resilient and better-suited to resist disease or withstand extremes in weather, elevation, rainfall or drought.
So what does it take to save your own seeds?
There are many factors to take into consideration when saving seeds, affirms Richard Boylan, an agriculture agent with the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service. “Seeds are the plant’s way of biding its time, waiting for the next opportunity to grow,” Boylan says. “While a plant needs plenty of water, air, heat and light, these environmental factors will degrade seed viability.
Seed harvesting practices are differentiated by the constitution of the plant itself, Boylan adds. Open-pollinated plants strongly resemble their parent plant, whereas hybrids produce offspring that vary greatly from the parent. Annual and biennial plants produce seeds in different cycles, and biennials need a second year to produce seed. Some plants produce wet seeds, while others are dried in place on the plant. These factors, among many others including pollination methods, disease management, soil cultivation and harvest timing, greatly influence the process of seed-saving.
For those interested in further seed-saving instruction, Boylan, in conjunction with the Ashe County Farmers Market, leads an annual High Country Seed Swap in the spring. The Organic Growers School also offers seed-saving classes and swaps before its annual springtime conference. And though the Center for Cherokee Plants is currently more of a workspace than a place open to the public, Welch and the tribal extension office are available for more information at 554-6928.