In anticipation of the upcoming Wylde Center's Seed and Scion Exchange later this month (details here), Destination: Books has been gathering books about seeds and taking a closer look at their specific offerings. Here’s a recap:
Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners by Suzanne Ashworth. For over twenty years this book has been a mainstay reference book providing detailed information on each vegetable including: botanical classification, flower structure and pollination, isolation distance, population size, caging or hand pollination and proper method to grow, harvest, dry clean and store the seeds.
It’s well organized and includes growing tips for different regions of the U.S. Seed to Seed reminds us that few things can match the usefulness of a good, soon-to-be-dogeared, reference book.
The Seed Detective: Uncovering the Secret Histories of Remarkable Vegetables by Adam Alexander. In this book the globetrotting Alexander, combines his personal experiences with the history and heritage of a variety of vegetables. His prose is fast-paced, breezy and loaded with fun facts whether diving into the evolutionary history of the tomato or discussing the color of carrots. Each chapter reads like a mini documentary you’d see on the Veggie Gardening Channel.
I guess it should not come as any surprise since Alexander’s day job is as a film and television producer.
The Seed Underground by Janisse Ray. This nonfiction collection is mixture of Ray’s upbringing in the southeastern Georgia, her own experiences pursing and preserving seeds, and portraits of the “revolutionaries” who have influenced and inspired her along the way. Ray’s book is more lyrical and longing in tone and she is also a no-nonsense activist, highly critical of large American Food System. In the chapter “What is Broken” she lists the reasons why seed diversity is important:
- Our food is going extinct.
- Our food supply is being stolen from us.
- Our food supply is being bought out from under us.
- Bad food has been forced down our throats.
- Our food is hazardous to our health.
- Our food is harming the earth.
- Our food annihilates pollinators.
- Our food threatens democracy.
If you cannot make to the Seed and Scion Exchange to swap seeds and enjoy the company of like-minded people, these seed books are available at our online store or directly from the publisher Chelsea Green. These new books would be shipped directly to your home and you’ll be supporting independent bookstores and an independent employee-owned publisher.
BTW, Destination: Books is now a 2023 Vendor Sponsor for the Wylde Center.
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