Quick Navigation
Main Navigation
About Us
Education & Events
Ways to Give & Membership
Preservation
Shop
Learn
Josie Meyer, former Seed Savers Exchange intern, shares her educational experience at Heritage Farm.
Even though the summer month here at Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah , Iowa , seem like they are the busiest and most exciting sentence of year , with all the garden being tended to , you may be surprised at how much oeuvre there is to be done even in the midsection of wintertime ! I sleep with I was surprised to find out all that goes on in the Preservation Department when I started my internship working with theExchangeprogram this past January . From planning for the next year , to processing and packaging source from the previous grow season , there is lot of work to keep everyone meddlesome .
If you are unfamiliar with Seed Savers Exchange , the Exchange program is wholly disjoined from the seeds you might see in our catalog . Since 1975 , Seed Savers Exchange has been ease a electronic internet of gardeners and farmers who have share come to both preserve their genetic diversity and share new varieties with other multitude . Since then , over 20,000 dissimilar open - cross-pollinate germ have been shared on the Exchange . to boot , because Seed Savers Exchange has so many different varieties in the collection , we ca n’t possibly grow each of them for thecatalogeach year . Through the Exchange , however , you could request smaller quantities of unlike semen to begin your own source - bring through journey !
As a soph studying environmental science at Luther College , I decided to do a month - tenacious internship at Seed Savers Exchange this January , chiefly to get some Book of Job experience and search some of the conservation - related career out there . I was n’t anticipating just how much I would end up learning about the Exchange and all the things that necessitate to be done to get the seeds out to people who want them . The faculty are all implausibly welcoming and excited to share the work that they do , and I would extremely encourage other students interested in biological science and conservation to consider internship opportunity here !
Josie Meyer holds bags of seeds from the Seed Savers Exchange collection in a refrigerated storage room at Heritage Farm.
Although I entered this internship with a nidus on the biologic expression of ejaculate rescue , I was able to spend some time learning about the other areas of the Preservation Department as well . I find it very interesting to see just how everyone from the seed historians to the valuation team work together to run a well - organized and well - managed seed camber . The emphasis that Seed Savers Exchange places on the stewardship history behind every seed made me start to recognize just how crucial it is to comprise the human experience into conservation employment . This focussing allow Seed Savers Exchange to bring in a more diverse audience of people , who are interested in not only seed and gardening but also the stories behind the food they are grow . That was a big takeout during my time here .
I drop a lot of metre learning about the seed banking concern as a whole , but most of the work I did this calendar month was in the seed lab perform germination tests on seeded player that were grown for the ingathering this preceding summertime . We do this in edict to ensure that the people requesting seeds from the Exchange will be able to turn sound plants , and to make note of any potential issues with disease . I really enjoyed being able to work out in a real research laboratory outside of school that is furnish utile information for the program . I also enjoyed get a line about and working with so many fun seeds with such interesting backstories !
We begin germination testing by placing the seeds in grow chambers with great deal of luminosity and moisture . When we take them out , we look at how many seeds have get down to originate liken to those that may be dead or covered in fungus ; this regulate the overall germination percentage . That number is then print on packets of seed requested from Seed Savers Exchange through the Exchange .
Josie Meyer holds bags of seeds from the Seed Savers Exchange collection in a refrigerated storage room at Heritage Farm.
We next conduct a seeded player - wet content psychometric test ( SMC ) to verify the source is dry enough to be packaged and preserved . If a seed has too much moisture , it may freeze or begin to germinate when stored in the deep freezer or seminal fluid depository financial institution rooms . If it is too dry , its long - term seed viability may decrease .
To do a seed - moisture content run , we crush up a small sample of cum and place them in modest jars . They are weighed , put in an oven heated to roughly 100 degree Fahrenheit for 24 time of day to remove all wet , and then count again . The remainder in exercising weight can be used to calculate the share of moisture that was present in the original sample distribution of semen . We direct for a moisture content between 3 - 9 percent for seeds at Seed Savers Exchange .
Many types of seeds that are unequaled in color or patterns — such as beans , peas , corn whiskey , and mash — are also scanned and kept in a database . These scans can be helpful if there are ever motion in the time to come about the identity of a seed , or if there are concerns about off - types ( mean semen that appear visually dissimilar from the residuum of the miscellanea ) .
A brown paper towel holds seedlings that sprouted as part of a germination test.
Once a source mixed bag has had its sprouting and SMC examination completed , we can then box those seeds . After a successful harvest , seeds are divided into different inventory packets . Some seed is set aside for preservation — both here at Heritage Farm and in back - ups post to the USDA seminal fluid money box and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault . These back - up locations are very authoritative , because if something were to happen to our freezers in Decorah , we would still be able to go back the collection from one of these locations . The rest of the seed is kept for distribution , to be given to whoever call for it through the Exchange .
Since several hundred varieties of seeds from the collection are grown out in small quantities each year , there is plenty for staff to work on during the off - season . Most of the seeds go through all of the aforementioned physical process before being stored aside . In addition , we continue to receive seminal fluid donation as well as dispersion requests . Overall , even though the winter months are n’t spent mature plants in the field , there is still much work to be done to make Seed Savers Exchange run smoothly !
Throughout this internship , I also had many chance to reflect on what I deliberate most authoritative in my next life history goals and aspirations . While learning about how Seed Savers Exchange both preserves the genetic multifariousness of seed as well as connects people with seeds and their stories , the conception of aligning my personal morals and values with the calling I choose to quest after in the future tense is something that really stand up out to me . feel that you are doing something that positively impacts the thing that you are passionate about fix showing up for work every Clarence Day that much more rewarding . Doing an internship for a nonprofit organization has helped me realize that this type of employment is something that I would definitely be interested in after I graduate !
Josie Meyer expend January 2022 as an intern at Seed Savers Exchange ’s Heritage Farm .
3094 North Winn RoadDecorah , Iowa 52101(563 ) 382 - 5990
Copyright © 2025 Seed Savers Exchange . Images on this site are protected by right of first publication — wildcat manipulation is not permitted .
Seed Savers Exchange is a tax - exempt 501(c)3 nonprofit organization devote to the saving of heirloom seeds .
