The Seed Underground

Most inspiring book I've read this summer: The Seed Underground, by Janisse Ray.

Ray is a great writer, a poet, and utterly passionate and inspiring on seed saving and seed culture. The book combines reporting, memoir, thoughtful essay, and call-to-arms. (It's inspired me to sign up for the conference Justice Begins With Seeds, sponsored by the Biosafety Alliance, in Seattle August 2-3. ) If you care about gardens, seeds, or humanity's future on this threatened & blessed planet, buy this book from your local bookseller or from the publisher and read it. Plant some seeds.

"I say, Rev up your awesome. Look around, so many people have put their shoulders into the load. You. Find a place to push. Pick up a tool -- a hoe or a shovel. Start turning the compost bin, to make the soil in which the seed will grow. You will begin at the cente,r the center of many concentric circles that expand further and further out from you. You soon will become a local hero and a local rock star, and from there your influence will wash outward, even across the globe, where so many people are rising up like germinating embryos to claim food sovereignty, to rescue local seeds, and to guard human civilizations cornucopia. Come home. Have the courage to live the life you dream: There is nothing greater than this.

Many of our seeds have been lost forever. But we can protect what's left and in our revolutionary gardens we can develop the heirlooms of the future.

Begin now."

Janisse Ray
The Seed Underground, 194