Saved By Seeds: Embracing Diversity, Adaptation, and Resilience

“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