As the generation of gardeners born before WWII put away their gardening tools for the last time many heirloom varieties that have been passed down thru families will become extinct, simply because no one has the knowledge or the time to plant them.  We must honor those who have spent their lives caring for these plants, by saving the seeds that have survived into the present thru countless seasons.  Some came with the families who settled here or from the native peoples that lived here.

The Sand Mountain Seed Bank provides a place where the legacy of our ancestors can literally be kept alive.  Older gardeners can deposit their seed for safe keeping and regeneration, if family or friends are not able to carry on the tradition.  Histories of the seeds and the seedsmen are recorded to depict the journeys and the intimate relationship we have with our food.

We are also a place where farmers and gardeners can get a start of legendary old-time open-pollinated varieties or simply locate garden seed that are well adapted to this soil and climate.

In this time of mass production, monocultures, and hybrid seeds, our food choices have narrowed.  No longer can we select our favorites from 50 beans or 15 squashes.  This loss of diversity increases the fragility of our food system, making us dependent on a handful of varieties and more vulnerable to crop failure.  The widespread use of hybrid seeds is particularly troubling because gardeners can not save hybrid seed and expect them to breed true.  They must buy fresh seed from the seed company every year.  Open pollinated varieties breed true from saved seed and have been selected for taste and production over the whole season.  Thus insuring our own food security.  We are dedicated to preserving as much of this diversity as we can, increasing our inventories and giving it back to the area farmers and gardeners, so once again it will be common place to have white half runner beans and choctaw sweet potato squash on the dinner table and be proud of our food heritage.