The True Seed Exchange Has Taken Root!
July/August 1976
By the Mother Earth News editors
Some of you may recall seeing a letter, back in Issue No. 34's "Dear MOTHER" column, from a fellow by the name of Kent Whealy. In that correspondence, Kent outlined a scheme he'd concocted for setting up what he called the "True Seed Exchange".
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"If you've been gardening for a few years," wrote Mr. Whealy, "and are keeping seeds that you know —from your own personal experience—run true, send me your name and address and what kinds of seeds you'll have. By sometime next fall, I'll have a list printed of all the people's names and what varieties they can offer. Anyone will be able to get the list by sending me enough cash to cover printing and mailing costs. Serious gardeners in similar climates can then write one another directly and swap seeds."
A darn good idea, right? Well, we thought so . . . and, apparently, so did a number of readers of this magazine and of other homesteading publications to which Kent sent similar letters. Because today the True Seed Exchange is a Reality . . . a living, breathing, growing network of gardeners (and even a professional horticulturist or two!) who have the foresight and good heart to see the need and importance of such direct cooperation and communication between kindred soil-working souls.
Over the past few months, seeds have been swapped from (for instance) Minnesota to Mississippi, Oklahoma to Ohio, Idaho to Illinois. And, in most cases, the varieties exchanged have not been your run-of-the-mill "modern miracle" hybrids . . . instead, they've been the old-fashioned tried-and-true strains that have been passed down from generation to generation within families and between neighbors. Dependable varieties of fruits and vegetables, in other words, which grew in our grandfathers' gardens but—because of the marketing power of modern seed companies—are no longer available in stores.
What's that? You say you, too, have an "heirloom" breed of squash or beans or broccoli that you'd like to share with others? You say you haven't heard a better idea than the True Seed Exchange in years and you'd like to contribute too . . . but you don't know how to go about saving seed from backyard vegetables?
