Ep. 59 Climate Resilience and Seed Stewardship - Sarah Kleeger, Adaptive Seeds

Sarah Kleeger runs Adaptive Seeds alongside Andrew Still in Sweet Home, Oregon. Their journey began twenty years ago with the Seed Ambassadors Project, a massive seed-finding expedition through Europe that saw them return to the U.S. with over a thousand rare varieties that had almost no commercial presence in North America.   In this episode, Sarah shares what it's like growing over 380 crops in a year while balancing trials, stewardship  and producing seeds for the catalog. We discuss OSSI (the Open Source Seed Initiative) as a way to keep seeds in the public domain. And we get into contract seed growing and how Adaptive Seeds tries to incentivize quality and share the risk with their grower network. We also touch on the impacts of wildfires and smoke seasons on both farmers and the seeds themselves.   In the deep dive, Sarah and I get into her favorite crop: Amaranth. We cover why amaranth is such a climate-adaptable grain, how to determine the perfect moment to harvest the seed, and Sarah's threshing machine of choice.   And of course we talk about the cats of Adaptive Seeds.   Enjoy the conversation! Support the Seed Farmer Podcast http://spreadsheet.farm/supportpodcast     Episode links Adaptive Seeds Website Adaptive Seeds on Instagram OSSI - Open Source Seed Initiative News Links   Fundraiser to support Saved by Seeds: Embracing Diversity, Adaptation, and Diversity. Chris Smith's upcoming book.   Stay in Touch Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram Get my weekly seed newsletter Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only)   Get my new book The Seed Farmer https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook/   ❤️ Thanks for listening!