About Saving our Seeds
This site is provided courtesy of Jeff McCormack, Ph.D., founder and previous owner of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and co-founder of Virginia Plant Savers.
In addition to his work on seed breeding, Jeff has published a number of articles on heirloom seeds, sustainable agriculture, integrated pest management, and has edited several books on topics which include seed saving and culinary herbs. He has authored 7 organic seed production manuals for the USDA that have been downloaded worldwide over 90,000 times.
Jeff is trained in natural products chemistry and pollination ecology. Formerly a faculty member at Middlebury College and the University of Virginia, he has an eclectic background that includes teaching, research, information technology, writing, publishing, and business. During the last 35 years he has worked in the fields of sustainable energy and agriculture, genetic preservation, plant breeding, and ethnobotany.
Jeff's efforts have focused largely on locating and distributing heirloom vegetable varieties, documenting their origins and uses, and recording the histories and stories associated with heirloom and heritage seeds. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange achieved national recognition for introducing and distributing heirloom seed varieties, and through oral histories documented how they were developed and preserved. Jeff's oral history projects, documenting the stories associated with heirloom seeds, were featured on National Public Radio three times, including NPR's "Living on Earth" program. Jeff also served for eight years (1986-1993) on the board of directors of the Seed Savers Exchange, an international organization focused on preservation of our genetic and agricultural heritage.
Since 2007, he has conducted ethnobotanical research on traditional methods of healing focused on indigenous medicinal plants in the Bahamas. The first book of two books, Bush Medicine of the Bahamas, won the 2012 book-of-the year award from the Society of Economic Botany, and was a Finalist for the James A. Duke Excellence in Botanical Literature Award. A second book is in preparation, about the bush medicine and history of South Andros, Bahamas.
In 2019, he began a research project documenting Peruvian plant medicine in south-central Peru. This will result in publication of a partially bilingual book (English & Spanish) including Quechua and Spanish plant names. The book will be distributed as an e-book in Peru and the U.S. The website may be viewed here: Peruvian Plant Medicine.
A fourth book in the planning stage will be about the history of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange including heirloom seed stories.
Saving Our Seeds is another venue for raising awareness of our threatened genetic resources, and an additional resource for providing information and knowledge tools for seed saving and seed conservation.
We welcome your feedback and suggestions for improving this site.
Thanks to the many people who make this work possible, and thank you for visiting!
Contact Information:
SavingOurSeeds@gmail.com
Saving our Seeds,
Charlottesville, VA 22911
All emails are read. Most receive responses if they are appropriate.
If you are inquiring about where to purchase certain seed varieties
that is not the the purpose of this site.
