Since last spring, we’ve been actively working on a new project funded and supported by Southern SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education) entitled, “Local food needs local seed: increasing production and use of locally adapted seed with a farm to community network.” The main goal of this project is to collaboratively work with local farmers…
In this age of disconnection, food has the power to bring us back together. The seeds we sow, the food we grow, and the meals we make together create the fabric of a flourishing local food web. One of our favorite units offered through our Youth Collective begins unsurprisingly, with a seed. We observe seeds…
How the Seed Was Planted In 2015 we had an ambitious idea: what would happen if we tried to combine our beloved Everglades currant tomato with a dwarf variety, Tanunda Red? This is a very wide cross of tomato types and traits! Everglades is a different species altogether (Solanum pimpinellifolium) and is the wild ancestor…
Several years ago, Melissa was connected to Jerome Feaster through a mutual friend, Bricky who manages the historical farm at Morningside Nature Center here in Gainesville, Florida. She’d heard about his family’s variety of heirloom mustard greens that had been saved for many years, since at least around the time of the Civil War, if…
Spring Events! Spring is here and we’ll be at some great community events! Our website events page lists them all and we’ll be adding more. Come join us! Join us for the in-person TEDxUF labs FRIDAY April 09, 2021 / 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm @Heartwood Soundstage Read more about this super fun 3 day event Pop-Up…
As the Sandhill Cranes return to the prairie, they remind us that it is time to reflect on another year past and what our future holds. Their arrival seems even more poignant as we approach the end of what may be one of the most difficult years in memory. Like so many in our community,…
Written by Melissa DeSa It’s been a whirlwind since the last seed dispersal in February when shortly after, COVID struck and sent all our energies frantically re-aligning to keep both our doors and hearts open to this community during the crisis. Although it has been a rough ride to say the least, it presented an…
by Melissa DeSa with excerpts from Janisse Ray’s The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food. Never before has such an interest in seeds and home gardening been so popular, except for during World War II when 20 million “Victory Gardens” sprung up, in a massive and coordinated effort to provide homeland food security.…
Huuuuge exhale! Last weekend we held our first ever online workshop for the Seed Librarian Summit! 50 people were there from all over the state ranging from no seed library yet and looking for ideas, to those that have been rocking seed libraries for many years! Thanks to Jenny Eason, Naomi Baxter, and Ben Cohen, we pulled…
We’ve been hustling and re-arranging everything with COVID 19 and are so excited to announce that our 4th Annual Southern Seed School is now online and live! We’re excited to have the opportunity and challenge to put our content online this year due to our inability to gather in person. It’s our first time facilitating…