2023 Impact Report
FROM THE FOUNDERS
It all began in the spring of 2021, when Julia approached Joseph about creating a video course based on his new book, Landrace Gardening. That course spawned a community of adaptation-minded gardeners, who swapped stories and seeds in an online forum and met monthly over Zoom. Anna was smitten with Joseph’s vision for ‘the ultimate seed share,’ and facilitated the mixing of homegrown seeds from around the United States into genetically diverse packets.
We wanted to do more. We needed to organize. Our small group of founders crafted a shared mission & values, and we set out to do three things: strengthen our existing community, grow our membership, and distribute genetically diverse seed. In December 2022, we signed on with fiscal sponsor, Empowerment Works. By January 2023, we had launched our website and seed program, making courses, seeds, and an online community available for free.
This report offers an overview of how we spent the rest of that first year. In the face of extreme weather and turbulent global geopolitics, the need for diverse, locally adapted, community-grown food crops is urgent. At a time when society is more fractured than ever, our emphasis on community offers neighbors a common goal of delicious, nutritious, resilient food. We hope you’ll join us.
Going to Seed is a project of Empowerment Works, a social change organization advancing a whole system approach to a sustainable world, and 501c3 not-for-profit.
Lowell McCampbell Masha Zager
Debbie Ang
Anna Mieritz
Joseph Lofthouse
Julia Dakin
MISSION + VISION
Going to Seed is shifting agriculture towards adaptation, community, and diversity.
Through teaching ancestral selection methods, seed sharing, and ongoing learning and experimentation, we help people grow locally-adapted gardens that thrive without inputs.
We envision a world where everyone is empowered to save seeds in order to grow food that heals the body, the soul, and the planet.
At Going to Seed, we:
• Celebrate interdependence and diversity
• Revere natural ecosystems
• Honor ancestral and indigenous wisdom and people
SHIFTING MINDSETS
Once a common practice in backyards and farms, the selection and saving of seeds has been overtaken by the commercialization of agriculture. This centralization has led to a staggering 94% reduction in genetic diversity in the last century. In selecting for uniformity in appearance and production, seed producers have inadvertently created crops prone to ‘inbreeding depression,’ and more susceptible to stresses such as disease and drought. Growers apply more fertilizers, pesticides, and other forms of crop protection. Even in certified organic systems, the reliance on plastics and organic pesticides to produce a harvest remains high.
Our approach focuses on adapting plants to local conditions, rather than changing conditions to support the plants. This is the approach that was common in industrialized countries before 1900, and many Indigenous people around the world continue to practice today. Going to Seed encourages gardeners and farmers to allow different varieties of a crop to freely cross-pollinate, saving and sharing seeds each year from the healthiest plants. With each successive year, the plants become more adapted to the local soil microbiology, pest challenges, and climate, a distinct advantage over seeds grown in a different bioregion.
This mindset shift is at the heart of Adaptation Gardening. We empower growers with the knowledge, seeds, and resources to shift toward sustainable farming methods that rely on adaptation rather than inputs. We advocate for genetic diversity. We promote local seed, and educate about seed saving.
Potatoes grown from seed are more able to adapt than those grown from tubers.
OUR APPROACH FOCUSES ON ADAPTING PLANTS TO LOCAL CONDITIONS, RATHER THAN CHANGING CONDITIONS TO SUPPORT THE PLANTS.
Adaptation requires seed saving, and seed saving works best in community.
FINANCIAL OVERVIEW
Going to Seed is an all-volunteer, international organization. Our overhead is low, with most of our funds spent on technical infrastructure such as software and website, printing, and postage.
We began fundraising in January 2023, under the fiscal sponsorship of Empowerment Works. We raised nearly $50k in our first year, about half from individual donors, and half from a grant from the Clif Family Foundation. Those individual donations came from over 600 people, mostly accompanying course enrollments or seed orders.
This money has allowed us to make our courses, seeds, and community free and accessible for everyone. We believe that seeds and knowledge should not be commercialized. We are grateful to be able to distribute both as gifts.
In 2024, a significant portion of funds will go toward farmer support grants. Additional funding will support expansion of local community projects, our national Seed Share Program, and travel to conferences and events.
$49,742
Total Expenses
$16,352
EDUCATION & OUTREACH
Public speaking
Talks at Baker Creek’s Tulip Festival & Heirloom festival, the Seed Library Summit, and Regenerative Skills podcast reached hundreds of people. Numerous presentations and event tables at local seed swaps, garden clubs, and farmers markets sparked conversations and invited new people to the movement.
said yes to every speaking request, including this one in Victorville, CA
Podcast
The podcast Going to Seed is produced twice a month, and distributed through Apple podcasts, Spotify, and other podcast platforms. Guests this year included author of Restoration Agriculture Mark Shepard, seed keeper and researcher Evan Sofro, and potato expert William Whitson of Cultivariable.
Julia Dakin
Joseph Lofthouse shares seeds and wisdom at the Heirloom Festival
Joseph Lofthouse (left) & Holly Hansen (center), podcast co-hosts; Shane Simonsen, podcast producer & host (right)
Courses
Our flagship course, Adaptation Gardening, continues to reach new audiences in 31 countries, with over 900 enrollments to date.
In January, we launched a new course entitled Center of Origin: Traditional Farming Methods in Southern Mexico. This course explores the rich heritage behind the milpa, and offers insight into the selection and improvement of corn, squash, beans, tomatoes, chili peppers, and many other popular crops.
Our monthly newsletter
Our monthly newsletter is growing in reach, with nearly 4000 subscribers around the world. The newsletter discusses seasonal topics and promotes activities within our community.
SEED SHARE
Our nationwide seed share gathers member-grown seeds, and packages them for distribution. These genetically diverse packets enable growers to jump start local adaptation projects, without the expense of purchasing multiple varieties.
How It Works
FALL
Seed Stewards source genetically diverse seeds & package curated seed mixes for each crop.
SPRING/SUMMER
Gardeners plant the mixes, encourage cross-pollination, and return a portion of the best seed.
SPRING
Going to Seed offers free packets of these seed mixes to gardeners through an online ordering system.
FALL 2022 - SPRING 2023
38 SEED CONTRIBUTORS
SENT SEEDS TO 9 SEED STEWARDS, WHO CREATED
21 SEED MIXES
WHICH WERE MADE INTO
1750 SEED PACKETS
DISTRIBUTED TO 400 GARDENERS
FALL 2023 - SPRING 2024
90 SEED CONTRIBUTORS
SENT SEEDS TO 12 SEED STEWARDS, WHO CREATED
29 SEED MIXES
WHICH WERE MADE INTO
5000+ SEED PACKETS
READY TO GO OUT TO GARDENERS
The beauty of diversity shines in our seed mixes!
COMMUNITY
Online community
At the heart of our vision is a strong community of growers, seed savers, and educators. We share knowledge, collaborate, and support each other in achieving a sustainable and just food system. Adaptation methods reduce the need for additional resources, and are accessible to anyone and everyone in the world. It is the only approach that can empower all food growers regardless of their means.
IN 2023, WE RAN SIX COMMUNITY SEED PROJECTS IN CALIFORNIA, OREGON, AND AUSTRALIA.
290 PARTICIPANTS COLLECTIVELY CHOSE 14 FOOD CROPS TO ADAPT TO LOCAL CONDITIONS.
Community Seed Projects
Participants were given starting seeds, many of which came from Going to Seed’s larger Seed Share Program, which collected seeds from gardeners across the US in the winter of 2022. These seeds contain enough diversity that wherever they are grown, some will thrive despite adverse conditions. Although some plants didn’t make it, seeds from the ones that managed to produce a harvest will be the ancestors of a regional variety that reflects that community’s preferences.
Over the late summer and fall, participants selected seeds from the best tasting and most vigorous plants. They brought whole squash, uncleaned plant material, and seeds to seed cleaning workshops, harvest parties or seed exchange events organized by their local seed library.
For the 2024 growing season, participants will grow a second generation of those crops. We have added more community seed projects and are providing greater support in the form of regular emails and discussion groups.
FARMER SUPPORT
Beginning with the 2024 growing season, we introduced a Farmer Support Program to provide financial, technical, and marketing assistance to production farmers who want to breed their own locally adapted crops. Thirteen grants were awarded to small farmers across the US, Canada, and India.
Biman Roy Bon Forest West Bengal, India
In West Bengal, most of the local, ancestral crop varieties have been replaced by Green Revolution genetics and require high inputs. Biman is working with local families to reestablish lost indigenous landraces of eggplant and Cucurbita moschata squash. Seeds saved from the first season’s planting will be divided into three mixes, each to be used for a specific growing season. This will allow for adaptation to the particular conditions of each season and provide a year-round harvest.
Eggplant intercropped with moschata squash
Biman has sourced over 20 varieties of squash for this project
Ryan and Sarah Trew
Seeds of Compassion
Central Alberta, Canada
Ryan and Sarah will adapt winter squash to their short season with unpredictable rains. While there are a few varieties of winter squash that will perform in their short growing season, they want to create more culinary options and diversity in the crop so that it can be delicious and better adapted to their conditions. Seeds of Compassion is a nonprofit organization, and vegetables and seedlings will be donated to local families who are struggling to put food on their tables due to poverty and health issues.
Iriel Edwards
The Dancing Radicle Farm Boyce, Louisiana
Iriel is working to create a mustard landrace that is resistant to flea beetles and other pests, and will be pooling many varieties to create a resilient, bolting-resistant landrace. Mustard greens are a culturally and economically relevant crop in the Deep South and one of the most frequently requested vegetables at farmers markets. For 2024, she will be planting mustards and evaluating insect resistance, leaf size, and flavor.
Diverse mustard greens provide the genetic foundation for this project
Iriel in her field
Blair Bellis and Shea Burns
Nye Ranch Farm
Fort Bragg, California
Blair and Shea are adapting sweet corn to their cold, foggy, coastal climate. Growing sweet corn is unheard of in their location, and many locals are incredulous that corn can be grown at all along the coastline. This project will provide access to locally grown hot-weather vegetables, and cool summer adapted colorful sweet corn seeds to share with other coastal and short season growers.
Corn growing in the fog of Fort Bragg, CA
Blair and Shea with corn that’s knee high by the 4th of July
THANK YOU
Financial Supporters
Over $1000
Anna Mieritz
Anonymous
Clif Family Foundation
Joseph Lofthouse
Julia Dakin
Kay Everts
Masha Zager
Over $500
Brett Seligman
Joseph Lofthouse
Matthew Collum
Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture
Over $100
Caroline McCampbell
Cheryl McGaffin
Christine Wilcox
Christy Garner
Debbie A
Dorine Real
Geoffrey Reimann
Isabelle Harlé
James Whiting
Jeremey Temple
Joe Couling
Jose Angel
Jose Maldonado
Judy Tarbell
Justin .
Karl Hagen
Keri Dickson
Laura Green
Maarten Foubert
Michael Crown
Michael Mindes
Michaun Pierre
Pam Sherman
Paul Brumbaum
Ray South
Rebecca Newburn
Robby Moors
Sakina Bush
Serpent Rainbow
Shadiya Kingerlee
Steve Larson
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Seed
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Stephanie Kasper
Sue Kusch
Susan Murbach
Thomas Michael
Tim Bridgeland
Tom M.
Vibrant Earth Seeds
William Schlegel
Yolanda Breidenbaugh
