OSA had the opportunity to attend this year’s National Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa, California. Our exhibit included a range of produce and organic seed specimens from regional seed companies, including Redwood Seeds, Open Circle Seeds, and Seed Revolution Now. The exhibit table was the result of a conversation at this year’s California Seed Summit about the need to share the story behind where our seed comes from. Each of the farms that had produce on display had been growing and processing seed from these varieties for a number of years, or had been participating in on-farm breeding, and sometimes a combination of both. Our exhibit was part of a larger effort to encourage the public to take an interest in how the varieties they love were grown and to think about where their seed comes from. The overall response was positive and people expressed an interest in learning more.
The Expo was well attended and full of a kaleidoscope of beautiful vegetables. There were guest speakers that ranged from John Jeavons who talked about the current state of organic farming and its future to Brad Gates from Wild Boar Farm who spoke about his years of experience in tomato breeding. This year’s expo included more discussion on organic seed, too. OSA’s Jared Zystro provided a presentation on organic seed production and there was an organic seed roundtable discussion as well. The music was great, the food was amazing, and everywhere you looked people were smiling. Don’t miss our slideshow below.
