Saving Seed with the Iraqi Seed Collective

About Facilitators

Ali Ruxin: Aliana (Ali) Ruxin is a Farm Manager at Red Hook Farms. She grows, saves, and shares seeds and their stories with the Iraqi Seed Collective, which she co-founded in 2020. 

Nate Kleinman: Nathan Kleinman is a farmer, plant breeder, political activist, and co-founder of the Experimental Farm Network (EFN), which facilitates collaborative plant breeding and sustainable agriculture research to fight global climate change, preserve the natural environment, and ensure food security for humanity into the distant future.

Objective

Decades of military occupation and environmental interference have jeopardized Iraq’s rich agrobiodiversity. In response to this landscape, the Iraqi Seed Collective (ISC) was founded in 2020 by Iraqis in diaspora working to preserve personal connections with their heritage and to protect their crop varieties from extinction. Beginning with just five commercially-available seed varieties, ISC has bloomed into a network of growers saving and sharing seed for more than 41 heirloom vegetables, herbs, grains, and flowers endemic to Iraq and the wider SWANA region. 

In this workshop, ISC members will introduce their stewardship work, and lead attendees in hands-on learning about dry seed processing basics using Iraqi Hamaira Wheat and Reehan (Basil). Attendees will get their hands on some seeds, enjoy sharing plant stories, and leave with seeds to sow at home! 

What to Bring

Attendees can also bring their own seeds to process together during the workshop