Heirloom Varieties

As commercial practices concentrate their crops into fewer and fewer, mostly engineered and hybrid varieties, our ability to produce food in the face of drought, wide-spread disease and pestilence declines.  As localized strains that have been preserved for their strong traits, heirloom propagation plays an important role in sustaining resilient and varied crop access through generations.

Native plants have adapted to specific places and climates. They’ve evolved natural defenses to certain diseases, pests, and weather patterns.  Because they are open pollinated, heirloom seeds with the best performing traits can be continually saved and adapted with the ability to evolve with changing environments so you get the most out of your propagated seeds where you live.

Heirlooms are often the tastiest produce because seed varieties that didn’t taste great just weren’t saved.  Factors more associated with large scale agriculture like shipping and shelf life are typically less important so flavor characteristics have been able to take a front seat in the heirloom seed saving and breeding process

These varieties  tell the story of the people that grew them and the place that they farmed. Keeping these seeds alive maintains a connection to cultural roots, ancestral ways, and the earth.  We can promote Indigenous cultural diversity for future generations by collecting, growing, and sharing heirloom seeds and plants