193: Bill McDorman
Chat with an Expert on Seeds.
Bill McDorman is Executive Director of Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance, Ketchum, Idaho. He got his start in the bio-regional seed movement while in college in 1979 when he helped start Garden City Seeds. In 1984, Bill started Seeds Trust/High Altitude Gardens, a mail-order seed company he ran successfully until it sold in 2013. He authored the book, Basic Seed Saving, in 1994. In 2010, he and his wife Belle Starr created Seed School, a nationally recognized week-long training. He served as Executive Director of Native Seeds Search from 2011 to 2014. Bill is a passionate and knowledgeable presenter who inspires his audiences to learn to save their own seeds.
In This Podcast:
Chatting with seed expert Bill McDorman about what is happening right now in the Southwest region with seed saving, including the upcoming Seed Summit and other seed events in the region. Bill shares a few insights and a couple interesting stories about some unique and really cool seeds.
Topics discussed in this chat:
- The Mountain West Seed Summit – hosted by Rocky Mountain Seeds. “Honoring Origins and Seeding the Future.”
A search to find seeds from all over the Rocky Mountain West. March 3rd and 4th in Santa Fe New Mexico. RockyMountainSeeds.org - Taking our seeds back – how the large seed companies in America are not based in America. And what that means for the regional seed companies.
- International Seed Library Committee – a working title for a new grassroots movement to establish seed libraries and seed exchange programs.
- Seed library examples – what a seed library is and how these cooperatives work
- Genetic Resources Information Network – how this national resource is being used to help grow out old grain seeds
- A grain success story – Sonoran White Wheat – the wheat that was used to create the catholic wafers by the missionaries who came to the southwest.
- The new zucchini – Carol Deppe has grown a gold zucchini she calls the “goldini” – caroldeppe.com
- Denver Seed School – training to help gardeners learn how to grow and collect seeds – April 2nd – 7th rockymountainseeds.org
- Seed School Teacher Training – helping teach the next generation of seed educators – in October rockymountainseeds.org
- Seed School Online – launches March 1st – seedschoolonline.com
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Hi Bill. Toward the very end of the film Seed The Untold Story there is a frame where the list several action points that people can take. Can you share what those actions are.