Sefra Alexandra is “on the hunt to preserve the biodiversity of our earth,” and with over 90% of vegetable varieties already extinct, safeguarding remaining seeds is serious work. Preserving global seed diversity is both deeply important to maintaining our seed stewarding lineages and offering a means of community and self-facilitated resilience amidst a changing climate. We are honored to have Sefra join For The Wild on this episode as we explore seed as ancient embryo and listen to the call for our re-participation in agrarian ritual and proper stewarding of local landscapes.

Sefra Alexandra, The Seed Huntress, is on a perennial ethnobotanical expedition to conserve the biodiversity of our farms and forests by safeguarding the world’s seeds. As a Genebank Impacts Fellow for the Crop Trust, she has gathered stories of the importance of utilization and sharing of plant genetic resource to adapt to changing climatic conditions. She has established community seed banks on island nations after natural disasters to fortify a regenerative model of resiliency, which supports food security & nutritional diversity through seed sovereignty. In her home state of Connecticut, she is reviving a once prolific allium heirloom to promote stewardship of the historic agrarian landscape. She holds her Masters in Agroecological Education from Cornell University, is a wilderness skills instructor, member of the Explorers Club & is designing a treehouse near a hot spring as a budding oologist.

Sefra and Ayana begin their conversation by looking at the current loss of seed diversity, what does it mean that we are letting foods that we have eaten for thousands of years rapidly disappear? The conversation carries into the culture of seed saving, the importance of diversity in the global food supply, the grave impacts of seed relief on local agro-economic systems, undermining seed oligarchies, and the ways in which being in relationship with seeds offer us a deeper connection to all dimensions of life. We invite you into this conversation where we are reminded of the value of listening to and learning from the beauty, patience, and ingenuity of seeds.

♫ Music by Lotte Walda

Actions Points & References

To begin relearning the ancestral art of seed saving, visit The Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance’s Seed School https://www.rockymountainseeds.org/attend/seed-school

To join in the great global exchange of heirloom seed varieties, visit Seed Saver Exchange https://www.seedsavers.org

To learn more about global genebanks, crop wild relatives, & how you can support this work, visit The Crop Trust https://www.croptrust.org

To find a seed library near you, visit http://seedlibraries.weebly.com/sister-libraries.html

To learn the basics of seed saving, visit Native Seeds SEARCH https://www.nativeseeds.org/pages/seed-saving-instruction

To Adopt-A-Crop, specifically drought-adapted plants, visit Native Seeds SEARCH https://support.nativeseeds.org/campaign/adopt-a-crop/c235109