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Stewardship Stories
“Plant something and help it grow.”
Jeanine Scheffert , an artist native to Decorah — and Seed Savers Exchange ’s education and involution director for well-nigh a decennary — look at a project ( any labor ) like a canvas , full of opportunity and electric potential . believe the surroundings , the context , she read , with its particular color and light .
“ My end this yr was to be surrounded by flowers , ” she says , explicate the bounty of her 40 - foot x 80 - foot garden on a friend ’s farm , just outside town . Cosmos , sexual love - in - a - mist , calendula , sunflowers , buss - me - over - the - garden - logic gate , zinnias , safflower , dahlia , nasturtiums , borage , sunchokes ( she does n’t even remember planting!)—all of it inspire her work as a painter and stop - photographic print maker . If you cultivate an surroundings that ’s beautiful and diverse , she order , you ’ll always have much to celebrate and in which to get inhalation .
The same goes for her experience in teaching and outreach at SSE , from 2013 - 24 . As a Decorah native , she was intimate with SSE ’s growth and wallop , but it was n’t until she spent internal time at the farm , when her art was hosted at the Lillian Goldman Visitors Center as part of theNortheast Iowa Artists ’ Studio Tour , that she felt the twist to put her vigour into its mission .
Ever the artist, Jeanine sketches out her garden designs.
“ If I had to place my favorite thing about work at SSE , ” she says , “ I ’d have to say first , it ’s the land . It ’s a great privilege to take the air the woodwind instrument of Heritage Farm and witness the many beautiful things growing , on the grounds and in nature , 24-hour interval by daytime . ” Next , she says , are the many thinking and passionate people who populate SSE ’s ecosystem , including stave and its wider communities of germ advocates , gardeners , learners , and business leaders , all work to worry for seed .
Although she was always a nurseryman at heart , Jeanine says , she did n’t have a horse sense for the interconnection of the gardening world until she herself joined theExchangeas an SSE staffer . Within three years , she was successfully list and sharing her personal favorites , including‘Good Mother Stallard’bean and ‘ Potimarron’squash .
“ Joining the Exchange can be a door to understanding that we all have seed - bring through cognition , simply by getting to know the plants in our garden , ” Jeanine articulate . “ We can divvy up not only the actual seminal fluid but also our cognition and resources that might help others be successful , too . ” It ’s a community , she explains , that has potential to be beautifully inclusive and endlessly various , because of the differences of gardening in particular soil , in a particular spot . “ Someone on the Exchange might already be name a variety you grow , but that ’s OK , ” she says . “ That does n’t think of what you have to pop the question is n’t important . ”
Ever the artist, Jeanine sketches out her garden designs.
Over her many years on the SSE staff , Jeanine came to take account the organization ’s influence in the seminal fluid world . “ It was an honor and a nifty duty to facilitate the asking of enceinte questions and initiate conversation need to be had , ” she says , listing a few of those dubiousness . Where do seeds issue forth from today , and who ’s farm them ? Do those workers have safe mould weather and average salary ? Which source might carry inaccurate story or have culturally inappropriate names — and how do we change that ? Which seeds might not be appropriate to sell at all , because of their sacred status in aboriginal communities ?
These are not always well-to-do conversation ( see : passionate people ) , Jeanine excuse , but they ’re significant and a great opportunity for maturation and positive change . “ I uprise a caboodle of old maid flower , ” she says , many of them‘Gift’zinnia , a variety she originally get from SSE but saved for many year from her own source . “ Last year , through a serial publication of complex events , they were accidentally scotch , ” she explains , “ so this summer , I found blooms in combinations of pink , orange , and purpleness that I did n’t anticipate . ”
Welcoming the occasional surprise is second only to the annual reminder that most everything in the garden is , at some point , a flower : “ By high summertime , basil is a prime and lettuce is a peak . Squash and bean are full of prime . ” It ’s a lasting lesson , she order , and one that plant can help us call back : If you need to be surrounded by flower and beauty , plant something and help it grow . debate all you believe you know or bear , then look again with overt heart . Look for what is miss , what change might be ask , and let the plants and seeds tell you what make out next .
Jeanine (left) helps Kathryn Gilbery, former Exchange coordinator, hoist the trophy Kathryn won for a soup cook-off at SSE’s Heritage Farm.
— Kristine Kopperud
Hope and Practice
To observe Seed Savers Exchange ’s fiftieth day of remembrance , we are featuring the work and inhalation of Exchange listers in the " Hope and Practice " serial .
Jeanine (left) poses with Evan Wisdom-Dawson and Sierra Kruger, both former SSE interns, at the farm of fellow Exchange lister Neil Lockhart.
Try Jeanine’s Favorites!
‘ Potimarron ’ squash
Its chestnut tree flavor makes this French squash a favorite for baking , blackguard , and making soup .
‘ near Mother Stallard ’ bean
This rich variety boasts a rich , meaty feeling ideal for soups .
‘ Gift ’ zinnia
Stunning individual and twofold ruby-red blossoms spring up to 3 - 4 inches and attract pollinators aplenty .
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