Saving seeds to plant for the next year's crop has been key to human survival for millennia. However, the twentieth century witnessed a grand takeover of seed production by multinational companies aiming to select varieties ideal for mechanical harvest, long-distance transportation, and long shelf life. With the rise of the Slow Food and farm-to-table movements in recent years, the farmers and home gardeners who have quietly persisted in the age-old habit of conserving heirloom plants are finally receiving credit for their vital role in preserving both good taste and the world's rich food heritage.

Kentucky Heirloom Seeds: Growing, Eating, Saving is an evocative exploration of the seed saver's art and the practice of sustainable agriculture. Bill Best and Dobree Adams begin by tracing the roots of the tradition in the state to a seven-hundred-year-old Native American farming village in north-central Kentucky. Best shares tips for planting and saving seeds for heirloom beans and tomatoes and describes his family's favorite varieties for the table. His incredible interviews with seed savers—predominately eastern Kentuckians, who for generations have worked tirelessly to preserve and share heirloom varieties to feed their families—vividly document the social relevance and historical significance of the rituals of sowing, cultivating, eating, saving, and sharing.

Foreword by A. Gwynn Henderson
Preface
Seed Saving: Past, Present, and Future
Kentucky's Seed-Saving Pioneers
Getting to Know Beans
Getting to Know Tomatoes
Letting Traditions Speak
Growing, Eating, and Sharing: Frank Barnett's Stories
Seed-Saving Legacies
Practical Tips for Growing and Saving
Heirloom Favorites
Growing and Sharing Today
The High Price of Cheap Food: A Case for Heirlooms
Afterword by Brook Elliott
Resources
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Index