Native Seeds/Search

Native Seeds/SEARCH seeks to find, protect, and preserve the seeds of the people of the Greater Southwest so that these arid adapted crops may benefit all peoples and nourish a changing world. We have been conserving and sharing heirloom seeds of the Southwest for 40 years.

Testimonials

"Thanks to the seeds you donated, we were able to plant a large garden with children from our neighborhood outreach sites in the inner city Albuquerque area as well as here in the South Valley. For many of the children and some of the adults involved, this was their first experience with gardening and growing their own food, as well as seed saving. We have already harvested some of our plants, and are collecting enough seeds to start our very own seed bank. - James Landry, Operations Director, Mission ABQ

"We greatly appreciate the seeds granted to the City of San Elizario, and we could not have established our pocket parks without using your seeds. These plants give residents a chance to experience how local heritage crops bring food and natural beauty closer to home." -David Cantu, City of San Elizario, David Cantu, January 2019 CSG recipient

"Receiving the Native Seeds SEARCH Community Seed Grant enabled us, as Cooperative Extension, to broaden the scope of what we were able to plant - focusing on more arid-adapted plants, and then following into Native Seeds/SEARCH's goal of saving and sharing the seeds produced from those plants. The purpose of our Navajo County Cooperative Extension Demonstration Garden is to encourage gardening in this area; and from gardening, moving on to improving diet and physical activity." - U of A Navajo County Cooperative Extension, Cathy Bawden, January 2019 CSG recipient

"Our future for these projects is to continue and expand all our gardens within the community, to be able to meet the needs of the community culturally while teaching the youth the importance of traditional agriculture and seed sovereignty. Also, to provide our Tribal community with access to fresh, chemical free produce. Saving seeds to build up our seed bank to be able to supply local farmers with seed to encourage planting traditional crops and adapted varieties. We see a growing interest in agriculture in our community due to our collective efforts and the availability of seeds made possible by Native Seed/SEARCH." - Ohkay Owingeh Diabetes Wellness Center, Jennifer Denipah, January 2019 CSG recipient