At The Spring House we grow food both for ourselves and to share with others. Our little urban farm is one large experiment in making the world a better place by engaging with the plants and people around us in ways that benefit both. All plants and crops are grown organically (non-certified) in a biodiverse environment. No chemical fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, pesticides, or GMO seeds or plants are ever used. We also do not “baby” our crops, and rarely water or fertilize. Because we save seeds, we want to continue working with seeds who are able to survive in our changing and challenging environment.
Using these methods we work on developing landraces through adaptive agriculture, which is defined by Joseph Lofthouse as:
“Adaptation agriculture is an intimate relationship between a location, a farmer, and a population of genetically-diverse seed. An adaptivar landrace is a foodcrop containing lots of genetic diversity which tends to produce stable yields under marginal growing conditions.”[1]
Here at The Spring House, we do this work to try to discover varieties that do well in our area, and that have great adaptability to the changing stressors in our environment. We feel it is important work to identify and keep seed from plants that show exceptional vitality. Working with these seeds and their wisdom can help take us both into the future together. This work also extends beyond The Spring House to the community through The Seed Pods, and with our involvement in some landrace projects with other organizations. (See some of these below.)
In addition to this work, it is also very important to us to grow culturally significant varieties which may be either be personally important to us and/or to other communities we are connected with. When possible these crops are rematriated back to the communities they originally came from.
We also grow some at risk varieties, such as some of the Slow Food Ark of Taste crops.
As we grow food and medicine here, we try to be mindful not to see these plants as “resources”, but to honor the plants that support our life by saving seeds from them to ensure their survival into the future. We sing to them as we plant them and offer gratitude when they share their bounty with us at harvest time. At The Spring House we not only actively caretake seeds, but participate in the seed tending community through many of the organizations that you will find on our resources page.
PROJECTS
Participant in The Utopian Seed Project
Heirloom Collard Project 2021-2026
Promiscuous Peas Project 2025-2026
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Participant – Going to Seed
Seed Share 2024-2026
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GRIN Global Seed Trials 2025-2026
Join us in supporting Native Seeds Search by conserving a crop!
2025 Supported Crop
2026 Supported Crop
[1] https://lofthouse.com/adaptivar-landrace.phtml