SEED: THE UNTOLD STORY DISCUSSION GUIDE

S.O.S: Save Our Seeds!

Section 2: Seed Saving, Sharing, and Growing
Background for Facilitators:
Seed saving was a necessity throughout most of human
history, going back nearly 12,000 years to the dawn of
agriculture. Our ancestors created an incredible diver-
sity of crop varieties through the careful technique of
growing, selecting, and replanting seeds from the best
plants each season. But in our modern lives, this time-
less tradition has fallen out of common practice, and
much of the abundant seed diversity we once steward-
ed has all but disappeared.
What roles have seeds played in shaping our cultures A chef from Itanoni Restuarant in Oaxaca, Mexico holds native corn
and communities? How do indigenous connections to
seeds differ from our modern use of these vital re- How many thousands of meals, families, and cultural
sources? In this section, we will explore these questions experiences has corn supported over the millennia? In
and examine the practice of seed saving across a variety the film, we learned that corn is a deeply sacred plant
of perspectives, from its indigenous roots to today’s for indigenous cultures. We will explore the spiritual
revival of traditions. and cultural importance of corn for Native peoples
later in this section.
Introducing the Discussion:
As we saw in the film, there are many reasons that
If possible, bring in corn seed for attendees. You can people save seeds. For example, some Native communi-
use popcorn from the grocery store or a packet of seeds ties (like the Hopi Tribe we saw in the film) save seeds
from a garden center. A packet with around 100 seeds as part of subsistence farming and in accordance with
is a great option. Start with everyone holding the seed their ancient traditions. They depend on saving seeds
in their hand and reflecting on how important this seed is. for food and to uphold their way of life.

2) S.O.S: Save Our Seeds! Seed Saving, Sharing and Growing Pg. 1
[Text in brackets are notes for the facilitator.] A4: The answer has to do with uniformity. As our
Q1: What is a seed? food system began to be industrialized, crop varieties
were developed with traits that make large scale pro-
A1: [Give participants some time to reflect, and then duction and harvesting easier—for example, crops with
ask for volunteers to answer. You will be astounded at uniform growing habits, predictable ripening patterns,
the diversity and beauty of the responses.] tough skin for shipping, and long shelf lives in grocery
stores. In doing this, farmers across the country aban-
Q2: What are some reasons you or your neighbors doned the unique crops they once grew in their regions
might want to save seeds? for these uniform varieties.

A2: [Answers may include: flavor, resilience, adapta- Q5: It’s easy for many people to name the common
tion, disease resistance, or drought tolerance. There are vegetable varieties in the supermarket, such as Iceberg
no right or wrong answers.] lettuce, Russet potatoes, and Better Boy tomatoes. But
can you name some heirloom, heritage varieties that you
know of or might find at a farmer’s market?

A5: [Allow audience to call out heirloom varieties.

Some answers may include: Mortgage Lifter tomatoes,
Einkorn wheat, Red Russian kale, and Paddy Pan
squash.] Often times, the more obscure or “weird”
looking a crop is, the more unique and interesting are
Beans come in all shapes, sizes and flavors! its characteristics. Genetic diversity gives us more flavors
and food that may grow better in our local environments.
Genetic Diversity and Seeds
Q3: In the film, the seed saver Will Bonsall (the man
with long, white beard) says that genetic diversity is the
hedge between us and global famine.1 Why would this
be true?

A3: The answer has to do with resilience. When you

have many different varieties of a crop, a single disease
or pest is not likely to wipe them all out. Some will
have genetic resistance built in and be unaffected. In Colorful cauliflower varieties.
a monoculture food system where all plants are ge-
netically alike, famine is a very real threat. This is why Q6: We’ve all probably heard about “heirloom” seeds and
diversity is so important for food security—or as we crops. Who can explain what an heirloom crop is?
like to say, diversity is the strength of any ecosystem.
A6: Simply stated, an heirloom is a treasure. An
You can help create this diversity in your own back- antique is another good way to think about this. Some
yard. Simply look for the healthiest plants in your people think this means it has to be really old, but we
garden and save seed from them. Now you are practic- think any crop that is unique and created by a seed
ing crop selection; you have become a citizen scientist saver can be called an heirloom.
(without a PhD!) and are helping build more resiliency All heirlooms are “open pollinated.” This means that
into our food system. the pollination process that created the seeds was not
controlled in any way and was “open” to nature. For
Q4: Recall from the film that we have lost over 90% seed saving, this also means that the plant will repro-
of our crop diversity since the turn of the last century. duce offspring similar to the parent plant. The big ben-
If we once had so many different crops to eat, what efit with open-pollinated seeds is you can save the
happened to them and why?2 seeds easily.

2) S.O.S: Save Our Seeds! Seed Saving, Sharing and Growing Pg. 2
Seed Saving History and Traditions At the end of this section you will find a list of resourc-
es to help you in your seed saving explorations. Saving
Q7: You may remember in the movie that Leigh, seed is an ancient practice dating back over 12,000
the elder from the Hopi Tribe, saved seeds from all years. This back-and-forth dance with the plants has
of his blue corn—even those ears that were damaged transformed the human race and is a fundamental part
by crows. Now that you know a little about this idea of our story as a species.
of “selection,” how would you describe the way Leigh
practices seed selection?

A7: Since Leigh collects seed from all the corn, even
the damaged ears, we might say he practices “non-se-
lection”! There may be multiple layers of wisdom here.
On a spiritual level, Leigh says “These are all my chil-
dren, and we bring them all in.” So, since all corn seed
is sacred, none gets left behind. Also from a scientific
perspective, you need hundreds of corn plants to main-
tain a healthy, genetically diverse population. Both of
these ideas are supported by Leigh’s “non-selection” method. Leigh Kuwanwisiwma of the Hopi tribe saves all the corn from
Corn is one of the more challenging crops to save be- his field.
cause it is pollinated by the wind, which carries pollen
from plant to plant, and also by insects, such as bees or
Q8: In the film, one crop was cited as an example of a
very malleable, adaptive, and essential crop that fueled
monarch butterflies. This means that cross-contami-
three civilizations. What was the crop and can you
nation between corn varieties is common and can take
place over long distances—even miles away! Contam- name the civilizations? [Maybe offer a hint: we were just
ination of native corn varieties with genetically modi- discussing this crop.]
fied corn is a big concern among indigenous farmers. A8: Corn! Aztec, Mayan, and Inca. In our modern
We will discuss this more later on. times, we can add the “United States of Corn” to that list.

Open Pollinated Vs. Hybrid Seeds

You may have noticed these terms used to describe seeds. But what exactly
is an “open-pollinated” or “hybrid seed”? These descriptors have to do with
how the seed was bred. They also provide information about the type of
crop you can expect to grow from the seeds.
Seeds are produced through a fertilization process in plants called pollination.
In open-pollinated plants, the pollination process happens naturally,
typically aided by insects, birds, or the wind. These plants tend to have a lot of genetic
diversity because pollen can “cross” between different specimens, mixing up their genetic traits.
The hybrid seeds you find in catalogs, on the other hand, are made by humans. (Another term to look out
for on seed packets is “F1”, which means the seed has been hybridized.) They are the result of specifically
crossing two distinct parent plants from the same species that have been uniformly bred to produce a su-
perior and predictable offspring. Hybrid seeds are prized by farmers and gardeners because of the “hybrid
vigor” of their crops, which often grow faster, taller, or hardier than open-pollinated plants.
The downside of hybrids is that they are genetically identical, which reduces biodiversity in our seed
supply and makes the crops vulnerable to pests and diseases. Also, it is difficult to save seeds from hybrid
crops as they will produce an offspring with unexpected and undesirable characteristics. For seed saving
purposes—and to replenish our seed diversity—it is best to grow open-pollinated seeds.

2) S.O.S: Save Our Seeds! Seed Saving, Sharing and Growing Pg. 3
 Group Activity:
Vavilov’s Centers of Origin

[Print this page and hand out to participants. Have participants break into groups of 2-4 people. Ask
participants the question below and have them discuss their responses with their group for about 10
minutes, writing their responses if helpful. After 10 minutes, bring everyone back together and ask for
volunteers to share their guesses. Then, read out the correct answers from page 9.]

The plants we eat originated in many different parts of the world. Nikolai Vavilov, a
Russian scientist, led expeditions prior to 1935 to find out the origins of many
common crops. Can you guess where the following crops originated?

• Potato • Mustard Seed

• Corn • Rye
• Orange • Pineapple
• Garlic • Coffee
• Strawberry • Coconut
Answers on page 9

2) S.O.S: Save Our Seeds! Seed Saving, Sharing and Growing Pg. 4
Q9: In many indigenous communities, growing food
and saving seed ties them into the seasonal cycles.
Saving seeds also corresponds with their celebrations
and rituals, and anchors their connection to the earth.
Planting and harvesting crops and processing seed are
essential to the livelihoods, beliefs, and cultural identi-
ties of these communities. For the Pueblo people, corn
holds a special place in their lore and origin stories.
In an interview that was not in the final version of the
film, Tesuque Pueblo’s Louie Hena describes one such
belief:

Animation from Seed: The Untold Story. In the late 1900s, the
U.S. government gave away millions of seed packets.

A9: As a young country, the U.S. was committed to

helping create robust and self-sufficient agricultural
regions by providing good seed stock. The idea was to
encourage seed saving in each area of the country with
farmers growing crops that worked for them.

This activity was viewed as fundamental to the health

and security of the country. It cut across all boundar-
Louie Hena from the Tesuque Pueblo in the Pueblo corn field. ies—political, religious, economic, and social—as an
activity for all citizens to engage in. This is still true
“For the Pueblo people, Blue Corn Woman and White today, of course; seed saving is something that can be
Corn Maiden are the original mothers whom each child done by anyone!
acquires his soul at birth. The ears of corn are placed on
either side of the infants cradleboard. Afterwards, they In the third section of this guide (“Corporate Consol-
are carefully wrapped and planted the following spring. idation of Seeds”), we will look at the changing stance
In our communities we are brought up, that we are of the U.S. government on seed saving and ownership.
connected to everything around us. Anywhere we go on We will also revisit how, over time, our right to save
Earthmom, it’s a special place for us. And as indigenous our own seed has been co-opted and seed has become a
communities, the importance of our seeds is that this is commodity that companies can own and patent. Until
our pantry and our medicine chest and that’s how we recently, this was an issue mostly with industrial crops.
look at it.” Not anymore.

For information on another Corn-related ritual, the Cherokee Green Let’s get back to the magic and power of seed saving.
Corn Ceremony, visit: http://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/951 Imagine that each seed saved can literally produce hun-
dreds, thousands, or even millions more seeds! There
Seed saving was also an integral part of the early histo- are eight crops that are especially easy to save seed
ry of non-Native communities in the United States. For from.5 They are “self-pollinating” crops, which means
example, as you learned in the film, in the late 1800s you typically don’t have to worry about things getting
the U.S. government gave away millions of packets of seed mixed up from cross-pollination with other varieties.
to farmers around the country.4 Why would they do this? We always emphasize that “never say never” is the rule
when it comes to biology, but generally these seeds will
produce plants like the ones you started with.

2) S.O.S: Save Our Seeds! Seed Saving, Sharing and Growing Pg. 5
 Q10: As it turns out, our favorite veggies are
generally the “self-pollinators” that are easiest to
save seed from. Can you guess what they are?
A10: Tomatoes, lettuce, peas, beans, peppers,
oats, wheat, and barley.

Children at Four Bridges Permaculture Institute in New Mexico beat

on wheat stalks to separate the seeds.

Beating and flailing are words used to describe the

process of releasing the seed from the plant when
processing grains. Sometimes seed heads can be
rubbed together making sure there is a container under
your hands to catch the seeds. Be careful with certain
Q11: If you are saving the seeds from these favorites, varieties, as the seedheads can be sharp.
how do you know when they are ready to harvest? Seed saving offers some amazing perks. You can often
save seeds and still eat the veggie—like with the toma-
A11: Peas and beans will be brown and the pods will toes. Also, if you make a “mistake”—if for example,
be brittle. Leave them on the vine until this happens. you aren’t sure if a crop you are saving seed from was
Then simply take the round seeds out of the pods. cross-pollinated with something else—you can eat
Lettuce plants shoot out a stem with yellow flowers that these, too! In fact, unintended “mistakes” in gardens
will turn fuzzy like a dandelion (which is in the same and small farms are how many of our most beloved
family as lettuce). When the flowers become dry, pull varieties came to be, including modern sweet corn,
the stems off and shake them in a bag to release the butternut squash, and pumpzinni.
seed. Once you start saving seeds successfully, the biggest
Tomatoes are slightly more work. Cut them along the problems you are likely to have are good ones. You will
equator and squish out the seed in a small, wide-mouth have more seeds than you know what to do with and
mason jar. Any flesh or other pieces that drop into the you’ll need to store them and share them with others!
jar are fine. Mix this up with the juice of the tomato.
Leave the jar in a dark place (maybe on your counter- Q12: We saw examples of seed banks in the film,
top) for a few days until a white mold forms. This is including Svalbard in Norway, Tesuque Pueblo Seed
like an antibiotic and will kill any diseases that might Bank in New Mexico, and Native Seeds/SEARCH in
be on the seeds. Arizona. What are the benefits and pitfalls of storing
seeds in a seed bank?
At this stage, stir up the mixture again. The dead seeds
will float to the top, and the good seeds will settle to
the bottom. Pour off the liquid making sure you don’t
A12: Seed banks were built to be safe havens for
seeds. Larger regional and international banks take on
dump out your seeds. Use a sieve or household strainer the responsibility to care for the seeds. Eventually this
for the final pour-through. Plop the seeds on a paper means growing them out to keep them alive. Svalbard
plate, newspaper sheet, or paper towel and be sure to on the other hand, was built to be a safety backup for
label it. Leave it to dry for a few days and you will have the world’s seed banks, a safety deposit box if you will.
a tomato seed “cookie.” Break it up and you will find Countries or conservation organizations that “bank”
hundreds of seeds. their seeds in Svalbard, retain all the rights to their own
seeds. No one else has access unless give permission by
the original depositor.

2) S.O.S: Save Our Seeds! Seed Saving, Sharing and Growing Pg. 6
 events where people come together to swap seeds and
stories, such as Seedy Saturdays8 in Canada.

Another popular way to share seeds is by setting up a

seed library. Seed libraries work like book libraries. The
idea here is that a person “borrows” seed (for free!),
plants it in their garden, and saves some seed from the
resulting crop to return to the library. This creates local
adaptations in the seeds over time, making the library a
Diane Ott Whealy, founder of Seed Savers Exchange, searches for
seeds stored in the Seed Savers Vault. unique repository of heirlooms from the community!

Storing seed properly is crucial when attempting to

keep them fresh and viable. The mantra we use is,
“Keep your seeds cool, dark and dry.” According to
Dr. Bruce Bugbee of Utah State University, seeds start
dying off more quickly when they are exposed to tem-
peratures above 80ºF.

Q13: What are some ways we can share and spread

seed diversity? Go for the obvious here!

A13: You can always give them away to anyone who

wants them. Seed exchanges or swaps are a great way
to share seed diversity in a community. Some examples
of local and regional seed sharing models are the Santa
Barbara Community Seed Swap, Southern Exposure
Seed Exchange, and Seed Savers Exchange. You can host Community members swap seed at the Heirloom Expo conference.

Seed Banks—FOOlprOOf
Or False Security?
In the film, we learned of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in
Norway, an impressive structure encased in arctic ice where
copies of much of the world’s seed diversity are stored.
This facility is meant to preserve our seeds in case of
planetary disaster. But as Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance
Director Bill McDorman cautions in the film, the problem
with Svalbard is that it “gives us a false sense of security.”6
He may be right about this. In May of 2017, news headlines announced that the
Svalbard seed bank had been flooded by water from melting permafrost as a result of climate change.7
Ironically, the most evident global catastrophe we know of has already compromised this “Noah’s Ark of seeds.”
Can we truly depend on seed banks to keep our seed diversity safe from disaster?
The answer is that seed banks play an important role as a line of defense for crop diversity—but we shouldn’t put
all our seeds “in one basket.” In addition to seed banks, we should be actively growing, saving, and sharing seeds
in our communities. In this way, seed diversity is being preserved “in place” in our fields and gardens. Local and
regional seed banks are another great idea. Storing backup copies of our seed resources in many places ensures
that a disaster in one area doesn’t wipe out a variety entirely.
In other words, to preserve our seed diversity, we should diversify our approaches to keeping it safe!

2) S.O.S: Save Our Seeds! Seed Saving, Sharing and Growing Pg. 7
 Seed Libraries
Seed libraries are an innovative way to preserve
and expand regional seed diversity. By growing,
saving, and sharing seeds in our communities,
we are creating local reserves of seeds that are
adapted to where we live. This way we are creating
our own heirlooms and building up resiliency in our
local food and seed systems.
Currently, there are over 400 seed libraries in the
United States alone. Many of these were launched
using the resources at SeedLibraries.net to get started. Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library in Rich-
mond, California is considered the grandmother of the seed library movement and provides step-by-step
instructions for setting one up.
Another great resource for starting your own seed library (along with lots of historical info and tips for
success) is the book Seed Libraries: And Other Means of Keeping Seeds in the Hands of the People by Cindy
Conner. For a detailed history of the seed library movement, check out the article “Sowing Revolution”
from the January 2012 issue of Acres magazine.9

For those who really want to dive into seeds, you can start a regional seed company. Like any business, it
takes a lot of planning, commitment, and knowledge of the field to be successful. One important thing to
realize about seed companies is many don’t grow all of the seeds they sell. Even though they may want to,
this is often challenging. Seed grower co-operatives, where many growers collaborate under the banner of
a single company or organization, is a smart solution to this problem.10, 11, 12

TAKE ACTION

Feeling inspired?
Here are some things you can do today
to get started.
• Host a seed swap or exchange in your community.
Make it a potluck!
Farmworkers harvesting grain in India.
• Start a seed library
Conclusion • Grow something (anything!) and save the seeds,
even if it’s just a lettuce plant in a pot
Seed saving is an ancient practice stretching back over • Join the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance and the
12,000 years. By learning these traditional methods and
Million Seed Saver Campaign
saving your own seeds—even from one plant—you are
taking part in one of humanity’s oldest experiences. (rockymountainseeds.org)
You are rejoining a ritual that makes us who we are. • Join Seed Savers Exchange (seedsavers.org)
And in doing so, you are helping to create a more sus- • Spread the word and let others know about
tainable, beautiful, and abundant world for present and SEED: The Untold Story
future generations.

2) S.O.S: Save Our Seeds! Seed Saving, Sharing and Growing Pg. 8
Seed Saving Resources (11) Sierra Seeds. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://sierraseeds.org/

(12) Triple Divide Organic Seed Cooporative. (n.d.). Retrieved

For more in-depth seed saving resources, check out the
from http://tripledivideseeds.com/
following books: Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing
Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners by Suzanne Ash- (13) Our Dwindling Food Variety. National Geographic. (n.d.).
worth; Basic Seed Saving by Bill McDorman; and Breed Retrieved from
Your Own Vegetable Varieties by Carol Deppe. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/07/food-ark/food-vari-
ety-graphic
Also, look into these seed Colorful tomatoes: By Dwight Sipler from Stow, MA, USA (Cher-
saving courses: ry Tomato Mix Uploaded by Jacopo Werther) [CC BY 2.0 (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
• Seed School (Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance)
• Seed School Online (Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance)
• Seed Academy (Seven Seeds Farm) Visit SEEDTHEMOVIE.COM/GUIDE for useful
online resources and links that appear in this guide.
• Seed Seva (Sierra Seeds)

References
Answer Key for Vavilov’s Center of
(1) Betz, J. & Siegel, T. (Producers/Directors). (2016). Seed: The
Untold Story. [DVD]. Timestamp: 5:46 Origin Group Activity (pg. 4):
(2) RAFI. Rafi USA. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://rafiusa.org/
• Potato - 8
(3) Betz, J. & Siegel, T. (Producers/Directors). (2016). Seed: The
Untold Story. [DVD]. Timestamp: 11:03 • Corn- 7
(4) Betz, J. & Siegel, T. (Producers/Directors). (2016). Seed: The • Orange - 1
Untold Story. [DVD]. Timestamp: 31:15
• Garlic - 3
(5) McDorman, Bill. Basic seed saving: easy step by step instruc-
tions for 18 vegetables and 29 wildflowers. Cornville, AZ, Seeds • Strawberry - 8a
Trust, 1994.
• Mustard Seed - 5
(6) Betz, J. & Siegel, T. (Producers/Directors). (2016). Seed: The
Untold Story. [DVD]. Timestamp: 20:08 • Rye - 4
(7) Carrington, D. (2017, May 19). The Arctic Doomsday Seed • Pineapple - 8b
Vault Flooded. Thanks, Global Warming. Wired. Retrieved from
https://www.wired.com/2017/05/arctic-doomsday-seed-vault- • Coffee - 6
flooded-thanks-global-warming/
• Coconut - 2
(8) Newman, J. (n.d.). Seedy Saturdays Across Canada. Seeds of
Diversity. Retrieved from http://www.seeds.ca/Seedy-Saturday/
More-About-Seedy-Saturdays

(9) McDorman, B., & Thomas, S. (2012, January). Sowing Rev-

olution: Seed Libraries Offer Hope For Freedom of Food. Rocky
Mountain Seed Alliance. Retrieved from
http://rockymountainseeds.org/images/pdfs/SowingRevolution.
pdf

(10) Snake River Seed Cooperative. (n.d.). Retrieved from snaker-

iverseeds.com

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