THE SEED KEEPER(S), with DIANE WILSON
- Jennifer Jewell
- Jan 6, 2022
- 4 min read
To welcome the new year, we stay with the theme of seeds – this time focusing on seeding our imaginations in conversation with Diane Wilson – gardener, emeritus executive director of Dream of Wild Health and, more recently, emeritus executive director of the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance.
A fierce advocate for Indigenous land-based cultural recovery, Diane has long interwoven her gardening and her advocacy work with her writing. She has several award-winning works of non-fiction, including the memoir, Spirit Car, Journey to a Dakota Past (2006), and Beloved Child, A Dakota Way of Life (2011). Her first novel, The Seed Keeper, was published by Milkweed Editions in 2021.
"A library book showed me that the tiny seeds I had taken for granted were actually unique living beings with their own history, story, and family. Each seed was made of an embryo, a seed coat, and something nutritious, almost like a packed lunch. The Mother Plant, like me, wanted only the best for her babies. ....Everywhere I looked, I saw how seeds were holding the world together. They planted forests, covered meadows with wildflowers, sprouted in the cracks of sidewalks, or lay dormant until the long-awaited moment came, signaled by fire or rain or warmth...Seeds breathed and spoke in a language all their own. Each one was a miniature time capsule, capturing years of stories in its tender flesh. How ignorant I felt compared to the brilliance contained in a single seed."
Diane Wilson, The Seed Keeper
You can follow Diane's work online at DianeWilsonWords.com
IF YOU LIKE THIS PROGAM,
you might also enjoy these Best of CP programs in our archive:
JOIN US again next week, when we’re go behind the scenes at Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Maine with Dave Melhorn, CEO and Lauren Giroux, Director of Product Selection and Trialing Research. Their motto reads: Helping Communities Feed One Another by Offering Superior Seeds & Service. Serving Market Growers & Home Gardeners Since 1973.
Cultivating Place is made possible in part by listeners like you and by generous support from the California Native Plant Society, on a mission to save California’s native plants and places using both head and heart. CNPS brings together science, education, conservation, and gardening to power the native plant movement. California is a biodiversity hotspot and CNPS is working to save the plants that make it so.
For more information on their programs and membership, please visit https://www.cnps.org/
Thinking out loud this week:
I love how Diane Wilson refers to her first work directly with the legacy seeds of her people after she hears about them as “volunteering with the seeds”. Not with the organization of Dream of Wild Health, but with the seeds. It reminds me of our conversation in the spring of 2021 with the Refugia team out of Philadelphia and the woman Esther being given advice to find work on behalf or in service to plants. It’s nice to remember that not only do the plants – the flowers, the foliage, the seeds and the structures of our plants provide so much in our days, but that we as gardeners also work for them.
With the new moon of the new year last Sunday, the first new moon after the Winter Solstice, I set a couple of gardening resolutions for myself. But before I share those, I would love to invite you all to share yours with me – you know how – send me an email: cultivatingplace@gmail.com OR you can always leave them in a comment on the weekly post on Instagram @cultivating_place. I can’t wait to hear them.
ALSO – thank you to all of you who wrote in with your feedback for me on the episodes of 2021. There was such an interesting diversity of responses. Thank you to Kyle and Keith, Sarah and Katie, Erin and Amanda, Nina and Nan. From a random drawing of names from all of you who wrote in about the feedback request, Kyle Morris of Texas will receive the thank you set of signed books.
I gleaned some remarkable insights from the feedback and so thank you all. If you wanted to send feedback and did not yet have a chance – please know that it is always welcome – constructive critique is like pruning – it can be tricky, but it spurs healthy and directed growth too. What brings the sometimes 10,000 podcast listens to any one episode? Knowing more about the diversity of answers to that helps this podcast grow stronger.
Happy New year to you all from this garden heart to all of your garden hearts.
Here’s to another ring around.
WAYS TO SUPPORT CULTIVATING PLACE
SHARE the podcast with friends: If you enjoy these conversations about these things we love and which connect us, please share them forward with others. Thank you in advance!
RATE the podcast on iTunes: Or wherever you get your podcast feed: Please submit a ranking and a review of the program on Itunes! To do so follow this link: iTunes Review and Rate (once there, click View In Itunes and go to Ratings and Reviews)
DONATE: Cultivating Place is a listener-supported co-production of North State Public Radio. To make your listener contribution – please click the donate button below. Thank you in advance for your help making these valuable conversations grow.
Or, make checks payable to: Jennifer Jewell - Cultivating Place
and mail to: Cultivating Place
PO Box 37
Durham, CA 95938
This article beautifully highlights how seeds are not just the start of new plants, but storytellers holding history and culture within them. Diane Wilson’s poetic approach to gardening deeply resonates, reminding me how something as simple as planting seeds can have profound meaning. It’s almost meditative—much like watching cookies multiply in Cookie Clicker , every new seed offers a small lesson in patience and reward.
Diane Wilson's work with seeds reminds us of nature's resilience. Like in the game Block Breaker, seeds possess hidden strength. Wilson, an advocate for Indigenous land recovery, views seeds as time capsules holding stories. Her book, The Seed Keeper, explores this. Just as in Block Breaker you strategically break down barriers, Diane champions the power of seeds. Check out DianeWilsonWords.com for more.
Diane Wilson's work with seeds echoes the careful planning required in games like Poptropica, where every detail matters. Just as seeds hold potential, so do our actions. Consider how each choice cultivates a different outcome, like planting a garden. Wilson's dedication reminds us that even small seeds can create significant change. What seeds will you plant this year, both literally and figuratively, to grow your own unique world?
Diane Wilson's seed advocacy is inspiring! Thinking about those tiny seeds, each a little packed lunch of history and potential, reminds me of mastering a tough level in Friday Night Funkin. You need focus, rhythm, and knowing the patterns to unlock the next stage, just like understanding a seed's needs. Planting and nurturing seeds is a legacy! What gardening resolutions are you setting this year?
This article is a valuable contribution to the field and a pleasure to read. Your article kept me engaged from start to finish. merge fellas