At Sacred Seeds, we are thrilled to hear the stories of people around the world taking the initative to save their native medicinal plant species. In 2010 we partnered with Organic Gardening Magazine, calling out to ethnobotanical heroes to share their efforts with us. The results were tremendous! There is truly an global effort happening all around us. We are now happy to share the stories of our challenge winners with you all:

We entered Organic Gardening Magazine‘s promotion of the Sacred Seeds Challenge in the Fall of 2010. We were challenged to study our herbal history, plant our own Sacred Seeds sanctuary, and write a short essay describing the effort. As the winners we were treated to a trip to the original Sacred Seed sanctuary and organic farm, Finca Luna Nueva, and a week of pure discovery. The six of us enjoyed an adventure of a lifetime. We took our temperate herb gardening experience and learned how tropical agriculture, permaculture, bio-dynamics, and rainforest ecology relate to all gardening everywhere. We made connections: with the people, the plants, the wildlife, and each other. We made a promise to continue our search for knowledge and share it with others. Here are our stories:

Linda and Patrick Cook: We garden in the Mid-Atlantic region. This gives us a unique connection to the Native Americans and colonists who learned from each other over the past 400 years. The blending of European transplants and native plants has given this region a rich patchwork of interwoven botanical history. We traced the history of medicinal plants that grow in our backyard by visiting the settlements of Jamestown, Williamsburg, Mount Vernon, Monticello, Montpelier, and the American Indian Museum in Washington. We researched the sacred seeds traditions of our Mid-Atlantic forefathers and mothers and chose their favorite medicinal plants to add to our own garden. See more about the medicinal herbs in our garden here.  After the amazing experience at Finca Luna Nueva, we are more committed than ever to increase the diversity of our herb garden and save seed from our food crops and medicinal herbs that are significant to our region. We will continue to document our progress and discoveries and share them with you.

Ralph and Maureen Oram:  As lifetime natives to the Pacific Northwest, we have created an organic sanctuary for animals, native plants and healing herbs to thrive in a rural environment, while raising our children with a respect and deep connection to the earth. Maureen started a medicinal herbal company in 1992 in the wise women’s tradition, growing, wildcrafting and creating many natural medicines. Every fall, we collect the seeds from our many gardens to replant and give them to others as a continual cycle of the heritage of their wonderful 30 year old plant ancestry. To learn more about our medicinal herbal company, and to read our essay in Moes Garden Blog that won the trip to Finca Luna Nueva, go to www.MoesGardenNaturals.com , or you can visit Finca Luna Nueva’s website blog where we wrote about our experience while visiting them.

After returning from Finca Luna Nueva, we have a renewed commitment to share herbal healing knowledge and the importance of being part of the global efforts to educate people about the harm that is being done to our planet by big industries supporting genetically modified foods and the chemicals used to poison our earth. We are more committed than ever to plant and collect heritage seeds for food and medicines, and to support others to do the same.

Jonathan and Gail Scott: We live in the North Carolina Sandhills, a region that has mild winters, hot, dry summers, and well-drained soil. I’ve discovered many medicinal herbs that are native to India grow very well here. Near our region, in the Appalachian Mountains, medicinal herbs such as Goldenseal and Ginseng were over-harvested in previous centuries and we need herb growers to help them make a comeback.

Fortunately, the eleven acres on which we live contain several different environments, and I’ve been successful growing medicinals that have different preferences such as direct sun, forest shade, wetlands and, of course, the fertile, well-watered soil of our organic vegetable garden.

I started gardening organically in the early 1970s, but my interest in medicinal herbs –beyond simply collecting those that grow wild–began about four years ago. It’s much too late in my life for me to ever accrue an adequate knowledge of the cultivation and use of medicinal herbs, but I’ve been enjoying the learning process and look forward to many more seasons of trial and error.