Here’s a pic from 2019 - just before we were on our way from Raleigh to Hendersonville - when a former foster pup, Scout (previously known as Betts) paid us a visit - Marlin was so thrilled.

This is our final guest article. This one is written by a former SSE member and friend of Carolyn. I love these early thoughts on, essentially, citizen science! Jim as a SSE legacy donor - an article about him can be found here. Two articles remain for Volume 3, Number 3 - then the two never before published that I wrote for partial issue Volume 4, Number 1. Four more articles, four weeks until Christmas - it will happen!

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Saving Seeds: You can make a difference!

Jim Tjepkema

The first seed savers played an important role in the origins of agriculture and modern seed savers have become important contributors to the advance of agriculture at its current stage of development. The first gardeners and farmers, who were the first seed savers, could be thought of as the original plant breeders. These ancient seed savers discovered and developed practically all of the domesticated plant species now in existence. Modern plant breeders have improved domesticated plants, but have had little success in developing new domesticated plant species. In this article I will discuss the role seed savers can and do play in agricultural science today.

I have seen advice from gardening publications warning gardeners against saving their own seeds. Those giving advice against saving seeds may think that gardeners should not get involved in aspects of gardening that are better left to scientists and technologists. In fact, some procedures used by professional seed producers may be beyond the means of the average seed saver and, therefore, the work of these professionals is important. However, many seed savers, who are not professionals, have found that they can do a good job of saving the seeds of many kinds of vegetables, and other plants without too much effort.

I believe that professional scientists and technologists should welcome the help of non professionals and that science and technology should not be completely dominated by professionals. In agriculture, which is my field of study, some scientists have tended to take a top down approach where they are almost completely in control of the most important research programs and the educational agenda associated with this research. However, this top down approach to research and education is losing some of its support partly due to the advocates of sustainable farming who are questioning many of the conventional practices used in agriculture. In sustainable farming there is a tendency for farmers and agricultural specialists to work together as partners in research and education.

I find that many gardeners are very independent and may not pay too much attention to specialists who do not respond to their needs. However, I believe seed saving may be an important way for gardeners to become more involved in the science of gardening. Of course, there are always people around who like to experiment in their gardens, but the work of backyard scientists tends to be isolated and may be completely ignored. Newsletters like Off The Vine and organizations like the Seed Savers Exchange bring the isolated efforts of backyard scientists together and encourage more people to join this activity.

Some of the best seed savers have developed their own very extensive programs for collecting and maintaining rare plant varieties that are as good or better than programs developed by many plant scientists. Also, other projects are sometimes taken on by seed savers such as plant breeding and variety performance trials. For example, Off The Vine has made some efforts to get data on plant disease resistance from seed savers and has circulated seeds from a plant breeding project to be checked for performance by seed savers.

Many seed savers may approach gardening as an art and are not interested in making scientific observations or getting involved with research projects. However, those who think they might like to do some scientific work might find that this work is very rewarding. I have worked with farmers on research projects and have found that they can benefit in many ways from doing research. By doing research farmers gain a better understanding of how scientific research is done and increase their access to information and specialists while becoming more confident in their own ability to improve their methods of farming.

Gardeners may not get the same benefits from doing research that are achieved by farmers. However, I think that in some ways the benefits to gardens from research activities are very similar to those of farmers. First of all, scientific studies may be simply looked upon as very interesting activities that are enjoyable. Scientists who are doing research as part of their job may lose sight of the fun side of science, but there is no reason a seed saver should let research become a chore that is not personally rewarding.

If we leave research primarily in the hands of professionals we sometimes feel that they may be taking science in a direction that is against our interests. When scientists work along, without any nonprofessional partners, they may overlook many important things that could have been brought to their attention by such partners. For example, many people now think that the scientific community should do more to protect our genetic heritage of domesticated plants. Much understanding of the importance of our plant genetic heritage has come through people getting involved in seed saving and not leaving the preservation of rare plants entirely in the hands of professional scientists. If plant scientists had worked more closely with seed savers in the past, they might already have developed better programs for saving rare plants.

Use of science by gardeners can start at a very simple and practical level. Practices such as keeping good records of gardening activities and recording the unique characteristics of rare varieties can have both scientific and personal value. Carolyn Male indicated to me she appreciates the careful observations on the characteristics of rare tomatoes made by some seed savers and would like to see other rare tomato growers take more time to observer the traits of their tomato plants. Likewise, by selecting for desirable traits of varieties when saving seeds, gardeners, can help preserve rare varieties, gain more insight into the science of seed saving, and have improved varieties for their own use.

I think even very small contributions to plant science and to the work of preserving rare plants can be rewarding. You can learn a great deal by saving just one rare plant variety. Likewise there are always plenty of new activities for even the most advanced seed saver such as setting up controlled experiments to verify the presence of superior traits discovered in rare plants. The resources of the professional scientific community are limited and they should welcome help from people outside their community, including seed savers. Seed savers have without doubt made important contributions to modern plant science and have the potential for making even greater contributions in the future.

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Reading this and other guest articles, as I’ve republished Off The Vine, reminds me of how valuable and enjoyable it was to provide a forum for other gardeners interested in heirlooms. I found a letter to the editor, written in 2021, to a Minnesota newspaper by Jim - it is good to know he is still doing his thing on this earth!