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Stewardship narrative
‘Seed Savers Exchange opened a whole new world to me.’
Glenn Drowns , longtime SSE member and Exchange lister , reflects on how he first became involved in the Exchange / Yearbook and why he has listed seeds for more than three tenner .
At the clock time , I was a senior in high school working on enquiry for a government class project . Many people today would n’t understand what it was like before the Internet , when you had to do things like looking atThe proofreader ’ Guideto find articles on theme in paper and magazine . I took a chance and sent $ 3 , which was n’t wanton to come up with at that time . I had already sent for every free seed catalogue I could place , always searching for something rare and unusual .
I got my first SSE publication in the spring of 1979 . Wow — it opened a whole raw world for me ! I discovered that all of the [ genetical works ] material that I did n’t see was still out there — that I thought had disappeared because it was no longer in seed catalogs — was in some cases still around . It also open up a wonderful globe of people who became such closelipped and womb-to-tomb friends . In those early sidereal day of SSE , we were all one big , happy kinsfolk despite any spiritual , political , or other differences ; everybody looked forward to the one-year campout like people calculate forward to a family reunification . My closest and good friends came from conversance I met through Seed Savers Exchange . It join a bunch of us who opine we were weirdos in the world because we were doing something different than the average gardener — saving seed .
Glenn Drowns
I do n’t think most in today ’s humanity really understand the impact that Seed Savers Exchange had on changing the horticulture landscape of America . If you go back to 1980 , there were n’t any “ weird - colored ” Lycopersicon esculentum in the marketplace . They were all red . peradventure there was an episodic pink one depend upon what part of the commonwealth you were in , and some icteric - flesh ace appeared on rare occasions . That does n’t even begin to count the diverseness of squash , peppers , and all the other interesting vegetable that Seed Savers Exchange finally suffer out into the world . Now , instead of some of them being uncommon , weird good that only the periphery element nurseryman grew , they are part of your average supermarket excerpt .
Seed Savers Exchange opened up a whole new world for me as my collection produce and grow from a few hundred varieties to presently well-nigh 3,000 different variety show that I grow and maintain . Even though we have much more [ cum diverseness ] uncommitted out there today — and perhaps many moreSSE extremity — I would detest to think that we would use that as an exculpation to have our guard down and not continue on with saving some of these cute variety from extinction . Each person can do their own part , whether it ’s one or two varieties in their backyard or maybe 15 or 20 if they have a adult garden . Choose something that is either diachronic to you or has some special substance , and it makes the whole process seem easy and dewy-eyed .
I start up at an other eld of 7 with a bean that had been in my female parent ’s family for over 50 years . I still maturate ‘ Boston Favorite ’ every year , not because it is the most unique in my assemblage of over 400 bean plant varieties but because of the personal connection I have with it . Each person can do their own part in keeping this apparent motion going — and going potent — well past the lifespan of the current membership . I calculate back fondly on the former daylight of Seed Savers Exchange with the speedy enlargement and the rapid influx of things and wonder if I had just started a few years before how many more varieties that our forefather had that maybe we could have save [ from quenching ] .
Glenn Drowns
As those of us at the old closing of Seed Savers Exchange set out to pass on , it ’s so crucial that the next generations coming up understand the grandness of maintaining this material not only in frozen seed vaults but also in active develop populations in people ’s gardens all around the globe . Diversity will be the true thing that saves our planet from future prostration . It will not be from everybody growing the same type of gullible bean or the same genetically modified vegetable . Our strength in this existence get along from the genetic diversity that we have , not from a lack of it . I recognize I in person will keep garden and saving seeds until I ca n’t get into the garden anymore . It is my Leslie Townes Hope that each and every penis of Seed Savers Exchange in the future continue on in some fashion to keep this motion going .
Glenn Drowns ofSandhill Preservation Centerin Calamus , Iowa , has been a Seed Savers Exchange phallus since 1979 . A longtime Exchange participant , he list 81 sort in 2025 . After graduating from college in 1984 , Glenn serve SSE co - founders , Kent Whealy and Diane Ott - Whealy , with the first SSE preservation garden in Decorah , Iowa .
He has since rectify cucurbit and corn for the Seed Savers Exchange aggregation on his farm , served on the SSE board , and donated nearly 600 varieties to the SSE collection . Glenn has served as a high school scientific discipline teacher for Calamus - Wheatland schools since 1984 and grows and uphold around 2,950 variety of seeds and crops , including 250 varieties of sweet-smelling tater . He also maintains 219 breeds of heritage poultry .
Glenn Drowns bred the ‘Blacktail Mountain’ watermelon in the 1970s when he lived in northern Idaho. He has listed it in the Exchange/Yearbook almost every year since he introduced it in 1983.
Hope and Practice
To celebrate Seed Savers Exchange ’s 50th day of remembrance , we are feature the study and inspiration of Exchange listers in the " Hope and Practice " serial .
Try these varieties, all first introduced by Glenn Drowns through the SSE Exchange/Yearbook.
‘ Nyagous ’ tomato
Productive , full - flavored , and nearly blemish - free , this beautiful tomato check all the boxes !
‘ Blacktail Mountain ’ watermelon vine
Perfect for myopic - season climates ! Gorgeous , gullible - black-market , round fruit weigh 6 - 12 pounds ; deep- red flesh is very sweet , juicy , and crunchy .
‘ Sweet Siberian ’ watermelon vine
Green , oblong yield consider about 10 pounds and grow well in most region of the United States . Apricot - colorise physical body is very dulcet and juicy .
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