The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781603583060)

There is no despair in a seed. There's only life, waiting for the right conditions-sun and water, warmth and soil-to be set free. Everyday, millions upon millions of seeds lift their two green wings.

At no time in our history have Americans been more obsessed with food. Options including those for local, sustainable, and organic food-seem limitless. And yet, our food supply is profoundly at risk. Farmers and gardeners a century ago had five times the possibilities of what to plant than farmers and gardeners do today; we are losing untold numbers of plant varieties to genetically modified industrial monocultures. In her latest work of literary nonfiction, award-winning author and activist Janisse Ray argues that if we are to secure the future of food, we first must understand where it all begins: the seed.

The Seed Underground is a journey to the frontier of seed-saving. It is driven by stories, both the author's own and those from people who are waging a lush and quiet revolution in thousands of gardens across America to preserve our traditional cornucopia of food by simply growing old varieties and eating them. The Seed Underground pays tribute to time-honored and threatened varieties, deconstructs the politics and genetics of seeds, and reveals the astonishing characters who grow, study, and save them.

Author: Janisse Ray
ISBN-10: 1603583068
ISBN-13: 9781603583060
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company
Language: English
Published: 07/06/2012
Pages: 240
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.81lbs
Size: 9.01h x 6.05w x 0.62d
Award: Nautilus Award - Winner

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 06/04/2012 pg. 46
Kirkus Reviews 07/01/2012
Booklist 07/01/2012 pg. 8
Shelf Awareness 07/24/2012
Foreword 08/30/2012