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Seed Savers Exchange

Posted at 9:31 PM on July 28, 2008 by Leslie Allen (3 Comments)

I have been so inspired by my fellow Locavore's summer travels that I decided I had to take a trip to a great local food destination. What was my location of choice? Decorah, Iowa. Decorah is home to Seed Savers Exchange (SSE), and I visited for their annual conference. It used to be called the annual camp-out, and I did just that. I enjoyed four incredible days camping alongside a sweet little creek at SSE's Heritage Farm.

Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and passing on our vegetable heritage. Since 1975 they have been working to preserve varieties of vegetables that are in danger of going extinct. I had never thought of a vegetable variety going extinct before I heard of SSE. It seems we have been so caught up in saving fabulous creatures like whales and wolves, that we have missed the quiet decline of Moon & Stars Watermelon, Cherokee Trail of Tears beans, and Ozette potatoes. Being an equal lover of food and nature, the fragility of these vegetables worries me. I want to enjoy an heirloom watermelon while whale watching.

I must admit that my desire to save rare vegetables wasn't the only reason I traveled to Iowa. You see, the keynote speaker for SSE's annual conference was Lynne Rosetto Kasper. I simply couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet Locavore Nation's host! When I arrived on the farm Friday night, I could hear her jubilant laughter drift across the lawn. I knew then that I was in for a very special weekend.

I introduced myself to Lynn, who greeted me with a warm embrace. What a nice lady! We spent the evening talking about food culture, farming and local eating with our fellow seed savers. I hated to pry myself away as the sun set, but I couldn't resist a hay ride as the full moon emerged over the Iowa forest. I'm glad I did because I was treated to a luminescent display from fire flies. Wow! This was my first time visiting the mid-west and I was smitten.

Saturday morning was spent touring the isolation and edible gardens, and getting to know the SSE staff. I just can't speak highly enough of this place and its people. Everyone was so nice and friendly. Speaking of nice and friendly, Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting Becky of Becky and the Beanstalk. I recently became a devotee of her blog. What a thrill to meet her and her wonderful husband Simon in person. By the time Saturday dinner rolled around, all locally grown complete with local Iowa wine, I felt I was amongst genuine friends.

Lynn delivered her keynote address after dinner, and she was marvelous! She is a true story weaver, and captivated all of us. She spoke about the incredible food culture of Italy and inspired us all to create our own unique American food culture. With Lynn's epicurean brilliance, along with SSE board members, Deborah Madison, Amy Goldman and Rosalind Creasy (who were all attending the conference), I am certain we will discover and celebrate regional American food culture.

After Lynn's talk we cleared the chairs and danced through an incredible thunder storm. A local band played as we contra-danced and waltzed in the barn until our feet had blisters. I even had the honor of do-si-doing with Deborah Madison! What a thrill! I hadn't had this much fun in ages!

I rose early Sunday morning to go bird watching with a local bird enthusiast. He was knowledgeable of both birds and plants, and I was happy to get a mid-western naturalist lesson. We returned from our walk to an excellent pancake breakfast. A few more workshops on Sunday morning, and all too quickly the conference came to an end. I was camping out another night, and was pleased to learn Becky and Simon were staying as well. They had a few unexpected adventures of their own. I'm sure sleeping with a bat in their bed was not what they expected in their historic cabin!

Sunday night we met up for dinner at La Rana, a local-food café. Unfortunately, as with many of Decorah's nicer restaurants, it was closed Sunday nights. Oh well; we made do with a little Mexican joint. I have to admit this was one aspect where Reno trumped Iowa. We have fabulous Mexican food in Reno, not so much in Decorah. We ended the evening with a visit to Whippy-Dip, a local ice cream joint.

I can't begin to relate all of the insightful conversations, inspiring workshops, and wonderful tours I experienced on the farm. It was one of the best trips I have ever taken. I can't wait to go back next year. In the meantime, I will eagerly eat my heirloom tomatoes, watermelon, and other yummy vegetables. That's the cool thing about saving rare plants. To save them you have to eat them!

Comments (3)

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What a wonderful post, and such a pleasure to relive the SSE convention through reading it. It was great to meet you and to spend time talking about your locavore commitment and other issues in food, sustainability and community building. You've inspired us -- we're going local in September!

I'm glad your first visit to the Midwest was a good one!

Posted by Becky And The Beanstock | July 29, 2008 7:34 AM

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Leslie, your trip to SSE looks fantastic! What a great place, organization, and group of people. Keep up the good work.
Happy local eating,
Autumn

Posted by Autumn Long | July 29, 2008 8:53 AM

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Great post, Leslie - I am envious of your trip! I have heard about Seed Savers and am looking forward to visiting there once I move back to Minnesota this fall.

And getting to meet Lynne! She is definitely a great person - I really enjoyed my chance meeting her here in Boise this past June - she really is very nice and food-literate. My appreciation for local foods really jumped up a notch in hearing her passion and commitment to this Locavore Nation challenge.

Posted by Scott | August 8, 2008 6:02 AM