Seed Savers Exchange began with one family wondering how to protect a few cherished seed varieties from being lost.

As a young girl, Seed Savers Exchange co-founder Diane Ott Whealy spent summers on her grandparents’ porch, surrounded by walls of morning glory flowers. Each fall, she helped her grandfather, Baptist John Ott, collect their seeds to share with visitors.

Years later, her grandfather gave Diane a small pill box filled with those morning glory seeds, along with seeds of the ‘German Pink’ tomato. Both varieties had been brought to the United States by her great-grandparents when they emigrated from Bavaria in the 1880s.

After her grandfather died, Diane realized how vulnerable those seeds were. If something happened to her or her garden, the varieties and their family stories could disappear.

That realization helped inspire Diane and her then-husband, Kent Whealy, to create a network through which gardeners could share their heirloom varieties and help preserve one another’s seeds. In 1975, the first exchange list included just 29 gardeners. Today, The Exchange connects hundreds of seed stewards offering thousands of varieties.

As the collection grew, it became clear that the seeds needed a permanent home. Because seeds are living, they cannot simply be placed on a shelf. They must be planted, grown, renewed, and shared.

In this recording, originally released as a video in 2022, Diane tells the story of how Heritage Farm became a home for this growing community and a place where people can see, taste, and experience the extraordinary diversity held within seeds.

Episode chapters

• 00:00 — Opening
• 00:26 — Welcome
• 03:29 — From the Archives - Diane Ott Whealy: The Story of Heritage Farm
• 15:45 — Closing

Full Transcript

Learn more

• Learn more about Seed Savers Exchange
• Explore the history of Seed Savers Exchange in co-founder Diane Ott Whealy’s book, Gathering: Memoir of a Seed Saver.
• Visit Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa
• Explore thousands of varieties offered through The Exchange

Connect

Seed Savers Exchange: Website, Shop, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn

Listen

Listen on the podcast webpage, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.

Original theme music by Lissie.

Learn More: Visit Seed Savers Exchange at seedsavers.org

Seed Savers Exchange is a nonprofit organization dedicated to stewarding America’s culturally diverse and endangered garden and food crop legacy for present and future generations. We educate and connect people through collecting, regenerating, and sharing heirloom seeds, plants, and stories.