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WITH THE PLANT A SEED CAMPAIGN, WE CELEBRATE BIODIVERSITY ON FARMS, IN GARDENS AND AT SCHOOLs.

With the Plant A Seed campaign, Slow Food USA invites growers to engage with climate and nutrition in our gardens and on our plates. In 2023, the kit brings together a cast of rare and biodiverse seeds that tell a story — and celebrate glorious greens!

This year’s kit and supplemental events and materials highlight the big groups of greens — brassicas, mustards, lettuces, chicories and amaranths — and the communities who celebrate them. The seven beautiful, easy to grow, and highly nutritious greens varieties in the kit feature many from our catalog of distinctive and delicious foods, the Ark of Taste.

The 2023 Plant A Seed campaign will inspire you to nourish your connections to your food and community as well as connect you to this land’s diverse foodways.

MEET YOUR GREENS

Click on each green below to learn more!

FEASTER’S MUSTARD

HANSON LETTUCE

MATILDE ESCAROLE

NEW MEXICO AMARANTH

SEA KALE

ULTRACROSS COLLARD

YU CHOY SUM

CHICORY AND COLLARD WEEKS

Celebrate the power of two powerhouse greens families by joining Slow Food USA in our Chicory Week and Collard Week.

GREENS ZINE

Enjoy this original, 36-page guide to growing, harvesting and cooking the greens found in the 2023 Plant a Seed campaign. Learn more about the back stories of our seven featured greens, and partake in a few poems and reflections from greens enthusiasts. Happy reading!

OUR GOALS FOR THIS YEAR'S CAMPAIGN

Ultimately, we aim to bring awareness of how simple acts of growing culturally significant crops in our gardens can impact our climate and nutrition while we learn from the communities who are stewarding them.

PRESERVE BIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Introduce 400 individual gardeners and 400 school and community gardens to new varieties of greens.

Connect biodiversity to climate resiliency — all of the varieties in the kit will grow in a variety of conditions. 

Highlight the nutritional benefits of greens and how having them in your gardens contribute to human and plant health.

Uplift BIPOC growers, seed companies and stories.

EDUCATE, INSPIRE AND MOBILIZE PEOPLE

Provide educational materials, toolkits and online events to inspire deeper connection with greens and their role in climate and nutrition.

Engage Slow Food chapters to activate the campaign in their local communities through Collard and Chicory Week events.

Mobilize the larger Slow Food network to align around the themes of climate, health and biological and cultural diversity through these greens.

INFLUENCE POLICIES IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS

Introduce key policy makers to how they can make change for the climate through biodiversity and adaptable crops.

Leverage greens as a key nutritional aspect of health in discussions around childhood nutrition.

Promote Meatless Mondays and a variety of greens and beans to buyers at key institutions, recommending greens and beans as a delicious and healthy substitute for industrial meat.

MEET OUR SEED SUPPORTERS

SEED GROWERS

Every year, the Plant A Seed campaign strives to support small seed companies who represent a diverse community of seed enthusiasts committed to celebrating heirloom, open-pollinated, non-GMO, Ark of Taste, resilient and adaptable varieties. The seed suppliers we use collaborate with like-minded groups and organizations in an effort to provide seeds that are culturally relevant and also emphasize the need for open-pollinated biodiversity as we face the realities of climate uncertainty. The seed suppliers we highlight with this campaign recognize the unique qualities and foodways embodied in the seeds they offer and are committed to sharing these seed stories.

PLANT A SEED SPONSOR

Special thanks to artist Alexandra Antoine for her artwork featured throughout the 2023 Plant a Seed campaign.