After I read The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson, I was very sad. The story had been painfully difficult to read at times, but it was a line in the Author’s Note that I found would haunt me instead “… 94% of our global seed varieties have already disappeared…” 

Incredulity hit me first and my heart sank as I told myself that number couldn’t possibly be right – it’s exaggerated.

But Scatterseed Project only confirmed the author’s words, and I just shook my head at the helpless feeling that replaced the denial  – 94%?! How did I not know until now it was that bad? More importantly, what could a poor woman like me possibly do at such a late time? But this is part of why I love writing so much because then the echo of a tree understands how I feel and the hurt isn’t quite as heavy. 

Later, I went for a walk with my husband along the winter strewn river by our home. We talked, and I thought about the rest of Wilson’s words in her Author’s Note and how even we could be Seed Savers. Because there was nothing else in the world that I wanted more than to protect the lives of the wild seeds that were left. But I also felt how much I needed to know how things had deteriorated so badly for those that were already gone – to keep them alive in some way. So, I watched the documentary Seed: The Untold Story.

I highly recommend watching it and doing your own further research into how so many, many of the world’s wild seeds have become extinct.

My quiet appreciation and thanks to Henryk Niestrój, Diane Wilson and Will Bonsall at Scatterseed Project for sharing their work, time, knowledge and love and to everyone involved who created the documentary Seed: The Untold Story and helped open my eyes.