Saved by Seeds - by Chris Smith (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"Saved by Seeds is as much a fervent love letter to seeds as an immensely useful how-to manual."--Dan Barber, chef and co-owner, Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns; author of The Third Plate

Seed saving might seem like a simple, old-fashioned custom, but seeds offer a radical pathway to resilient relationships between people, plants, and place.

Symbols of renewal, seeds hold the promise of a greener future. But despite the powerful potential of seeds to adapt, modern seed saving often attempts to maintain varieties as they have always been--despite the challenges of ecological devastation and severe climate change. Seeking to explore agricultural diversity and promote resilience in food and farming, James Beard Award-winning author Chris Smith founded the Utopian Seed Project in 2018. In Saved by Seeds, Smith presents a passionate argument for seed diversity while presenting practical advice for everyone, from new gardeners to experienced farmers, to embrace the abundance of seeds.

"This is a book to be devoured."--Adam Alexander, author of The Seed Detective and Accidental Seed Heroes

Review Quotes

"Saved by Seeds is as much a fervent love letter to seeds as an immensely useful how-to manual. It made me want to get out of the kitchen and into my garden."--Dan Barber, chef and co-owner, Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns; author of The Third Plate

"Both practical and philosophical, Saved by Seeds should be required reading for farmers, gardeners, seed savers and plant breeders--but it's relevant to everyone else, too. I hope people around the world, and especially policymakers, will heed its important lessons: that crop diversity is the basis of all food security; that it must be both preserved and actively expanded; and that since neither corporations nor the governments they control can be trusted to do the vital work of nurturing agrobiodiversity, by necessity it falls to us. And Chris gives us all the tools we need to play our part."--Nate Kleinman, cofounder, Experimental Farm Network

"This is a book to be devoured. Gorgeous writing makes accessible the pleasures and pains of seed saving and plant breeding, as well as the sheer delight of growing food and exploring all the opportunities a curious grower can embrace to be part of restoring and maintaining a vibrant, healthy, and delicious planet. With every page turn I learned something new and inspiring."--Adam Alexander, author of The Seed Detective and Accidental Seed Heroes

"A vital toolkit for cultivating community resilience and navigating change, Saved by Seeds honors heritage and ancestral knowledge without becoming trapped in nostalgia, reminding us that saving seeds is a dynamic, open-ended practice of transformative futurity."--Xan Chacko, assistant teaching professor of science, technology, and society, Brown University

"Part history, part how-to, and part experimental record, Saved by Seeds is also wholly an inspiration. It will transform the reader into a gardener, the gardener into a seed saver, the seed saver into a plant breeder, and everyone into an advocate of radical botanical diversity."--Helen Anne Curry, Kranzberg Professor of the History of Technology, Georgia Tech; author of Endangered Maize

"A wonderful invitation to intentionally cross-pollinate your seeds and build true genetic resilience. Chris Smith walks you through the core practices of seed work in a simple, approachable manner delivered through story. This is the book I wish I had when I started my seed journey."--Dan Brisebois, host, The Seed Farmer Podcast

"A deeply thoughtful exploration of what it means to be a seed steward, Saved by Seeds acknowledges the urgency of our times and the implicit need for action without ignoring the complex histories that accompany seeds and their people."--Holly Silvester, future resilience seed coordinator, The Gaia Foundation

"This book is written for folks like me who dream of 'seedwork' as a tool for change and revolution but lack formal education in plant science. It will allow me and others to more easily share our vision of reclaiming the lost arts and sciences of community plant breeding. Saved by Seeds is a step-by-step guide through the work that my ancestors demand of me. I love how Chris translated years of conflict and misunderstanding in language we can use and share. Thanks, Chris, for getting it done."--Bonnetta Adeeb, cofounder, Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance

"Thoughtful, inspiring, and of practical help, this is a book to treasure."--Pam Dawling, Sustainable Market Farming

About the Author

Chris Smith is executive director of The Utopian Seed Project, a crop-trialing nonprofit working to celebrate food and farming. Within this work, Chris collaborates on the Heirloom Collard Project, hosts a seasonal Trial to Table event series, and publishes Crop Stories, a crop-specific multimedia project. His first book with Chelsea Green, The Whole Okra, won a James Beard Foundation Award in 2020, and he is the co-host of The Okra Pod Cast. In 2023 Chris received the Organic Educator Award from The Organic Growers School and was named a Champion of Conservation by Garden & Gun.