Life Sciences Commons^™

Heirloom Seeds Of Tennessee: Seeds And Their Stories, Fiona Evelyn Mcanally

Masters Theses

Heirloom seeds continue to be grown in home gardens of Tennessee, an area of high agrobiodiversity, but are rapidly declining in local communities. Individual seed savers in communities have been replaced by formal networks that include seed swaps and national and regional seed saving organizations. Seed saving organizations grew out of an increased interest in heirloom vegetable production over the last forty years as a result of the expanding local food movement and concerns of loss of biodiversity. This study uses a multidisciplinary approach in plant and social sciences to document seed saving, the motivation of seed savers, and the …