Seed Exchange helps keep plants pure

Plant seeds aren’t often considered historical artifacts, but the Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia’s upcoming Heirloom Seed Exchange challenges that notion.

The program will give participants the chance to learn about heirloom seeds and their health benefits.

Patty Watts is a member of the Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia and the chairman of the group’s Heirloom Seed Exchange.

As Watts said, heirloom seeds are open-pollinated, which means that their pollen has been passed from plant to plant by natural sources such as bees and the wind.

Watts, who has been gardening off and on for more than 40 years, returned to the pastime after she was diagnosed with non-alcoholic liver cirrhosis. And she changed her diet immediately in response to the diagnosis.

“My doctor said, ‘You have to turn it around, or you’ll be a candidate for a liver transplant’,” Watts said. “But he didn’t know what caused it, and I figured that it had to be coming from the food I was eating.”

Watts’ daughter suggested that she take up a totally organic diet. And, according to Watts, her health improved in less than a month.

“I took everything out of my refrigerator, cupboard and freezer, and, in three weeks, my liver enzymes went back to normal. The change I made was the food, and (my doctor) couldn’t quite believe it.”

Soon, Watts started gardening again and began to grow her own fruits and vegetables. Then, she decided to share the lessons that she learned during her ordeal with others.

“So, I went to the Historical Society, and I said that I wanted to turn my lemons into lemonade,” Watts said. “By that time, I had started growing all-organic food for myself, and I wanted to help other people to learn to eat healthier.”

Watts had been aware of heirloom seeds before she was diagnosed with her illness, but she only discovered that they hadn’t been genetically modified by humans after she did additional research.

“During my research, I found out about some really horrendous things that happen in the food industry with chemicals, preservatives and pesticide residue,” Watts said. “It’s like some of these vegetables are producing their own viruses, and that’s why organics is the answer.”

Over the next few months, Watts also will teach various seminars at Castlewood that cover topics such as canning and preserving food, drying and saving seeds and getting children to eat their vegetables. During these classes, she will be joined by horticulturalist Joan Jackson, another Historical Society of Virginia member.

At any rate, planning this type of event hasn’t been easy for Watts. In fact, she researched heirloom seed companies on the Internet for months and solicited them for packets to distribute during the meet-up.

At this writing, Watts has amassed more than 2,300 herb, flower, fruit and vegetable seed packets. And the ongoing program will operate much like a lending library where users will be expected to return twice as many seeds as they take.

“Many seed companies have almost uniformly dropped heirlooms from their inventories, and they’re only growing hybrids or genetically modified organisms now,” Watts said. “So, if we don’t save these seeds, they’re going to be gone forever, kind of like how we’re (in danger of) losing the rainforest.”

The Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia’s Heirloom Seed Exchange will start be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today (Thursday, Feb. 2) at Castlewood on 10201 Iron Bridge Road in Chesterfield.

Admission is $5, which includes an annual membership in the Seed Exchange and 10 seed packets.

Then, the Heirloom Seed Exchange will continue from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Thursday through May 31.

For more information, call 768-0616 or check out the Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia’s website at www.chesterfieldhistory.com.