Community swap event promotes the preservation of diverse plants

Community swap event promotes the preservation of diverse plants

By: David Bare | Special correspondent
Published: January 06, 2012 Updated: January 06, 2012 - 12:00 AM

Gardening events for 2012 start out with a bang when Slow Food Piedmont and Old Salem Museums and Gardens combine for a community seed swap on Jan. 14.
"This is designed as a community event, and everyone is invited," said Margaret Norfleet Neff, the chapter leader of Slow Food Piedmont. The group is dedicated to sustainable food production and the preservation and dissemination of heirloom foods and the craft of producing them. The swap also includes a potluck lunch.
"We want to include everyone, even if they don't have seeds to share. Bring some cookies; bring whatever. This is a great opportunity to share," Norfleet Neff said.
Norfleet Neff and her daughter Salem also grow and craft food products, such as jams, preserves and relishes, from their home-garden business, Beta Verde.
Slow Food has held its annual seed swap in various venues for the past five years, from farms to family homes. Uniting with the Old Salem Gardens' mission of preserving heirloom varieties should expand the offerings exponentially. Additionally, So True Seeds, an Asheville seed house dedicated to regionally grown and tested varieties, is sending offerings from its catalog. Seeds from Seed Savers Exchange, an international organization, also will be available.
Old Salem is one of three retail locations in North Carolina that sell Seed Savers' products. They are available throughout the year at the T. Bagge Merchant.
Martha Hartley, Old Salem's horticulture outreach agent, said Old Salem and Slow Food share a similar mission.
"One of our goals is to educate people about the importance of saving a diversity of vegetable varieties," she said. "The staff in Old Salem's gardens is meticulous about the seed-saving program."
"We begin saving seed in April," said Ellen McCullough, Old Salem's herb and flower specialist, "and we are harvesting, drying and processing seed throughout the year."
"People are asking where to get seed for these plants all the time," said Vonnie Hannah, Old Salem's greenhouse manager, "so it made sense to combine with Slow Food."
"Slow Food and Old Salem are two big proponents of heirlooms," Norfleet Neff said. "It is about preserving the longevity of what works."
The seed swap will feature farmers and gardeners from throughout the region in an informal exchange of ideas, information and seeds, with expert advice available at every table.
Folks such as Jim Knottke, a local native plant and fruit expert; Mary Jac Brennan, Forsyth County Cooperative Extension Service's community garden outreach coordinator; and Jeff Tucker of Sugar Creek Farm, a local organic farmer, will share seeds and stories.
Local growers have been invited to add greens to a massive winter salad that will be assembled for the lunch.
"Sugar Creek is providing a big chunk of the winter salad, which is exciting," Norfleet Neff said. "The winter salad is Beta Verde's variation on a spicy Caesar salad with a citrus dressing and grated cheese ... a little local garlic, too."
Slow Food recognizes food that is threatened through the Ark of Taste program. These endangered items might be livestock varieties, such as the Bourbon Red Turkey, or vegetables, such as the Fish Pepper.
The Fish Pepper was grown by blacks in the Baltimore and Philadelphia areas before 1870. It was traditionally used to flavor fish and oyster stews in the Chesapeake Bay region. Seed for the Fish Pepper should be available at the swap.
Often the stories associated with the seeds are as interesting as the harvest. Take, for instance, the Carolina Black, a rare heirloom black-skinned peanut, which is another variety that will be at the swap.
This variety is believed to be what was called the African peanut, a black peanut the black community grew as a substitute for the African ground nut that cannot be grown in our climate.
The African ground nut, or black Bambarra, was used as an aphrodisiac and an important component in African folk medicine. Carolina black peanuts are slightly larger than Spanish peanuts and have a sweet taste.
The Ark of Taste includes 800 products from 50 countries, 200 in the U.S. These are foods or traditions that are threatened by the standardization practices of large-scale, industrial agriculture. Preservation of these varieties will take the effort of gardeners and farmers who share the bounty from sprout to harvest year after year.
Slow Food Piedmont also recognizes food-service organizations that support quality, sustainability and authenticity through its Snail of Approval program. Nominations are welcome for those who do good, clean and fair work in food production.
The seed swap is the first of several events in Old Salem Museums and Gardens' Seed to Table series. It will feature a lecture by Diane Ott Whealy of the Seed Savers Exchange in March. More on that in a future column.

If you have a gardening question or story idea, write to David Bare in care of Features, Winston-Salem Journal, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, NC 27101-3159 or send an email to his attention to gardening@wsjournal.com.