The Bookworm

The Bookworm: reading the best and weeding the rest

A REVIEW BY LEEANNA TATUM OF THE SEED UNDERGROUND: A GROWING REVOLUTION TO SAVE FOOD BY JANISSE RAY

In her book The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food, Janisse Ray discusses the vital work that seed savers are doing to protect our food sources and biodiversity.

In her conversational approach to storytelling, Ray conveys the dire impact that corporations have had on our collective seed supply, not only through genetic modification and patenting but also through the process of selecting to preserve seeds that work well commercially regardless of other considerations (like a little thing called taste).

But thankfully there are still those among us who are working diligently to save a wide variety of heirloom plants through the process of seed saving - which requires a great deal of seed planting and growing as well!

Ray has traveled the country to meet with a few of this quirky cast of characters and shares their stories and those of their seeds; conveying the message that not only is it important to protect biodiversity through seed saving but it’s also essential to preserve the cultural heritage that is integrally connected to the seed.

Ray’s book acts as a seed itself, holding within it the spark of life and hope that lies ready to take root within the reader, germinating the desire to protect our plant heritage, and cultivating the need to put hands in soil and take part in the revolutionary act of gardening.