My corn is a thousand years old.
So are the heirloom beans I use for red beans and rice, the Friday school lunch staple I grew up with.
I have garlic that’s 30 years old, winter squash that’s 20, a lima bean that produces perennial plants, and a lovely, ancient lavender purple bean from the mountains near Mexico City. All these vegetable varieties, though they have deep origin stories, are now unique to my garden here at Owl Feather Farm.
I’m a seed saver—a food guardian, practicing what may be the oldest human profession, an activity that dates back 10,000 years to the dawn of agriculture. Each year, just as people have done for 500 generations, I set aside seeds from my harvest so I can replant next spring. Thus, I am my own horticultural supply store, with an assist from nature herself. I’m also demonstrating a trendy new cultural idea: food sovereignty, or exercising control over my own food supply….