Celebrating Saving Seed
This piece of writing was created for a friend’s seasonal zine called “The Pearl Vine.” If you’re reading this in 2019 and would like a copy, holler, it’s truly beautiful!
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I've spent two years on this land in Chatham County cultivating medicinal plants and it has changed me. Each step of the way - designing, planting, tending, harvesting - has brought its own struggles, triumphs, and lessons. As the days shorten and I plan for seasons ahead, it is my new venture of saving seeds that speaks the loudest. So far on the list for seed saving - Ashwagandha, Butterfly Milkweed, Clary Sage, Dill, Holy Basil, Mullein, Rue. Slowing down enough to participate in this process has emphasized ...
Self Reliance - Until very recently, I’ve ordered all the seed I need. When I started to realize that this part of growing could also be in my hands, a light switched. I also love that inherent in the process is that you are selecting which plants you want to see succeed for another year, selecting for their vitality or growth habit or flavor or medicine. And, that these plants are endemic to your land, your sense of place.
Curiosity - Each plant reproduces differently. Sometimes finding its seeds feels like a treasure hunt and then a huge payoff - oooohhhh, so that’s where you were hiding! It’s also not a topic I ever learned much about in a book, it’s about asking neighbors and friends, it’s about studying the plant from the plant’s perspective. Sorting through it all, separating the hull from the seed, the chaff from the gold, I am a mad scientist in nature’s classroom.
Awe - Most plants, like the mullein I just sorted, produce way more seeds than what will ever turn into viable plant babies . By design, they must know the odds. And yet, every day we see their literal fruits.
Connection to something greater - Watching nature inevitably brings me closer to that gnawing sense that we are not alone.To play a role in ensuring the ongoing procreation and sharing of nature’s bounty feels like a true gift. I especially love that in a season where it looks like the world is about to take a massive nap, we have the opportunity to be tethered to a cycle, an awareness that new growth will occur, that the world has seen this wheel turn over and over and thrived.
Intimacy - Knowing the right time to harvest seed requires a vigilance and making your acquaintance with each plant, on its own terms. Throughout late summer and early fall, the seeds mature and dry at different rates. Some plants you have to walk by day after day, with patience, until they tell you they are ready. Yes to all of this.
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I am ready to see what the next season on this land will offer and what we will co-create.
