New On Our Blog

Sunny Azafran

April 25, 2014 | Laura Jones

By Laura Jones, NS/S Distribution Manager When I saw bright orange and yellow flowers gleaming from a pot outside our Retail Store, my eyes changed their focus to meet, for the first time, Corrales Azafrán. I was inspired to get to know this plant that colors our shop’s outdoor landscape, and in ...

Saving Seeds in a Small Garden

April 15, 2014 | Sheryl Joy

By Sheryl Joy, NS/S Staff If you’re like me you love gardening (and eating from the garden!) but don’t have a lot of space to do it in. It’s always a challenge deciding what to plant each year, because everything I’d like to grow simply won’t fit. I’ve also wanted to try seed saving, but wasn’t q...

Uses for Amaranth Grain + Recipes

April 01, 2014 | Melissa Kruse-Peeples

By Melissa Kruse-Peeples, NS/S Conservation Program Manager. Amaranth is a wonderful, although often underutilized, grain crop. Actually, it is one of the Americas oldest grain crops with archaeological evidence for its use going back at least 8,000 years. Naturally gluten-free, protein rich amar...

Heat and Drought Tolerant Varieties from NS/S

March 18, 2014 | Betsy Armstrong

Originally published 3/18/2014 In the recent book Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land (PB1058), Native Seeds/SEARCH co-founder Gary Nabhan discusses how farmers and gardeners are desperately seeking ways to adapt how they grow food in a world of climate change. One solution promoted by Nabhan is...

Giving Voice to Seeds: Hopi Red Dye Amaranth

March 01, 2014 | Betsy Armstrong

Our food has a story to tell. Whether purchased off a supermarket shelf or picked from a backyard garden, each morsel we eat carries with it a rich history that spans cultures and stretches back across centuries. At its essence, the story of our food crops is a tale of seeds—a Homeric odyssey chr...

Holiday Tamales With NS/S

November 17, 2013 | Betsy Armstrong

Tamales are the quintessential Southwestern Holiday treat. Around this time of year fresh made tamales fulfill our cravings for a taste of regional traditions. Blue or white masa, meat or veggie filling, sweet of savory, the taste of tamales is like no other. Preparing tamales is a multistage pro...

Meet NS/S Native American Intern Valerie Martinez

September 15, 2013 | Betsy Armstrong

This September, Native Seeds/SEARCH welcomed our first Native American Intern Valerie Martinez to the organization. Supported by a grant from the Christensen Fund, the six-month Native American Internship program offers a unique and hands-on learning experience in crop genetic resources conservat...

Krofting: Farming as if Water, CO2 and Sustainability Really Matter

August 11, 2013 | Betsy Armstrong

The following is a guest blog post from Southern Arizona farmer and "krofter" Kyle Young. I’ve been pleased to participate with Native Seeds/SEARCH on the two-year Heritage Grain Growers Collaborative project by growing Chapalote corn. This project dovetails nicely with my “krofting” approach to ...

News from the Conservation Farm - Monsoon Season Updates

August 11, 2013 | Betsy Armstrong

The News from the Conservation Farm Blog posts are written by the 2013 farm apprentices Danielle, Matt, Pablo, Travis, and Francesca. Since the last update from the Conservation farm, the apprentices have been very busy with the arrival of the monsoon season in Patagonia. It’s been amazing to wat...

News from the Conservation Farm: Harvest and Closing Down for the Season

August 11, 2013 | Betsy Armstrong

Fall has been very busy at the Conservation Farm. With the help of friends and volunteers from the community, the apprentices harvested thousands of pounds of seed from the farm, and hosted the straw bale workshops and harvest festival. Native Seeds/SEARCH loved working with the 2013 farm apprent...