Why Are Seedbanks Important?
Seedbanks. When did they start? Why are they important to you and me? When I was growing up, in the foothills of the Cherokee National Forest, Maw Henry was the seed-keeper, and the seedbank was on her dresser, on top of the chifforobe, on a kitchen shelf, and anywhere else she could find to store them safely. We kids were the seed-savers; we spend what seemed like forever, shelling peas, corn, and beans. We strung “leatherbritches” on sewing thread, and hung them behind the woodstove. I don’t know of them ever buying seeds for the gardens or flowerbeds. Maw lived to be 100, having been born just before 1900, and seed-saving was a staple for their agrarian way of life.
Time went on, and the practice of saving seeds every year, got smaller and smaller, after Maw passed, all the grown kids had busy lives with jobs and families, and food seemed plentiful, so no thought was given to seeds. There was so much assuming, and blindly believing, that Nature would take care of the seeds and keep giving us food. This wasn’t just our family. This was most of the nation.
Then one day, some people woke up, and began to get concerned about the loss of diversity, and the availability of seeds for things they could remember from childhood. This happened somewhere in the 1970’s. This happened about the time that science started breeding and cloning plants. Corporations began to collect seeds, in greater amounts than individuals could, and consumers protested the “ownership” of seed sources. It became known as the “seed wars”.
How can one own the rights to a particular cultivar or variety? More later…
The Tennessee Dirtgirl
