Sue, Koda and Marlin on our Flat Laurel Creek trail hike from this oddly warm week
In part 1 of this two part blog entry I set the stage for laying out a major concern that has been on my mind the past few years. I left off in part 1 talking about some famous Seed Savers Exchange member names that held large single crop selections. I also noted that we “seem” to be in good hands, with heirloom varieties being maintained by the SSE themselves, the USDA, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
I joined the SSE in 1986, developed my passion for heirloom tomatoes, helped launch a major tomato breeding project, and sit here as the calendar is about to flip to 2022 with literally thousands of seed samples (not just tomatoes, but also big pepper and eggplant collections). I also have a big collection of old seed catalogs (hundreds, collected over the years from antique shops and ebay). There are also boxes of letters; personal communications from just about everyone who ever sent me seeds.
I am not ready to stop gardening yet, of course, though I am certainly about to enter the “simplifying and downsizing” approach. This means less plants, which means longer times between growing particular varieties. I plan to use some of the more important seed catalogs for research for future books. These catalogs document the evolution of gardening in America, particularly those between 1870 and 1950 (the pre-hybrid focused years).
Marlin with his Christmas present
Here is the main question that I have, and the whole point of this two part blog. What is the landing point for all of my material? At some point I will decide that I am finished with the catalogs, need a safe place for the letters, the Dwarf Tomato Breeding project is essentially completed, and my massive seed collection needs to find an appropriate home. What is that home?
A few years ago my tomato growing friend and fellow author Carolyn Male died. I can only imagine the amount of heirloom gardening related material in her home. Through communications with her brother, I know that some of the seed did make it into the hands of fellow gardeners, but much was lost. I have no knowledge of what happened to the large collections of important seed saving gardeners who died decades ago - Fax Stinnett, Gary Staley and Thane Earl, for example, those who were the main tomato people of the first decades of the SSE.
I noted in part 1 that things at one point seemed to be in good hands, with the maintained and documented collections of the SSE, USDA and Svalbard Seed Vault. But the keyword is “seemed”. SSE had to make some tough calls on which varieties could reasonably be maintained, and there was significant culling of the collection (remember that they maintain far more than tomatoes!). The USDA started to consolidate their collections as well and far less material is maintained and available than previously. Svalbard is international, and I am not aware of their criteria for presence in their collections.
The reason that I see this as a problem reaching criticality now is that it follows logically from when the SSE created the buzz about growing heirlooms and saving seeds. Let’s say that it was 1985 when this really became “a thing” - we are now nearly 40 years beyond then. The loss of many of those original seed savers, as well as aging out due to health and reduced capability, means that the time is now (if not already starting to pass) to address the lack of clear destination for large collections of seeds and supporting materials (letters, catalogs, seed and garden logs) so that there is access and an effective set of processes to ensure that the seeds live on, and materials can be viewed.
So my question to all who read this blog - what sorts of ideas do you have? To personalize this - let’s say that I am looking at a destination for my seed collection, seed catalog collection, set of garden logs and seed and garden-related correspondences. What is that destination?
Then take my situation and replicate it around the country - around the world - as others who caught the seed saving addiction back in the 1970s, 80s and 90s - how do we prevent loss of possibly valuable germplasm? How do we preserve the information that accompanied those seeds? I’d love to hear what seed companies have to say about this also, as it is something that they themselves may face some day. I don’t think that any of what we have in place - SSE, USDA or Svalbard - is appropriate (for differing reasons). I think we are going to need something new - something that doesn’t yet exist.
Looking out into the Blue Ridge mountains from the Flat Laurel Creek trail in the Black Balsam area off of route 215
