heritage corn, polyculture and more: seedkeeper rowen white of sierra seeds

SEEDKEEPER AND FARMER Rowen White’s roots are in the Mohawk Nation on the New York-Canada border, but she has set down deep ones in Northern California, too. There, she co-founded the Sierra Seeds cooperative and catalog that offers a diversity of local, organic, varieties that thrive in the unique Sierra foothills, and beyond.

I say “beyond” because some of those seeds came with Rowen from the colder, wetter Northeast, her “living, breathing relatives that want to live and grow with the earth, she says,” just as she does, “witnesses to the past” that tell stories that might otherwise be lost–stories she has dedicated herself to keeping alive. Like Rowen, the seeds have adapted to their new home, and thrived–including colorful corns for many distinct purposes both cultural and culinary.

Rowen (above, braiding corn), who was elected in 2014 to the board of Seed Savers Exchange, is also co-author of the handbook, “Breeding Organic Vegetables: A Step by Step Guide for Growers” (pdf). We spoke on my public-radio show and podcast about curating Native American seeds; about the benefits of polyculture (Rowen adds two “extra” sisters to the traditional Three Sisters arrangement); a Mexican relative of amaranth and quinoa that should be in your salad bowl, and more.

Read along as you listen to the Jan. 26, 2015 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).

my q&a with rowen white of sierra seeds

Q. I recall a story that involved tribal elders with coffee cans and Mason jars of their cultural and agricultural heritage in the form of seed, some of which they gifted to you. I wonder if you can refresh my memory

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