Ep. 27 Seeds That Know The South - Chris Smith of The Utopian Seed Project

Chris Smith is the founder of the Utopian Seed Project, a hands in the earth non-profit based in Asheville, North Carolina. Chris is also the author of the book the Whole Okra: A Seed To Stem Celebration Chris grew up in the UK and moved to the U.S. in 2012 with no formal background in farming, But that all changed when he received an okra pod and a gift card to a local seed company as wedding shower gifts In this episode, Chris shares his journey to become a seed grower and advocate. We talk about his time at Sow True Seed, where he began his deep dive into seed systems and community engagement. This led to launching the Utopian Seed Project to develop a seed system rooted in the Southeast U.S. And later the Appalachian Growers Seed Collective, a farmer-led network focused on growing, adapting, sharing, and selling seeds that know the South   Chris and I talk about the importance of meaningful relationships with seed over time rather than simple rigid preservation, climate resilient crops like taro and chayote, and then we talk a lot about growing okra for seed. I hope you enjoy this conversation Support the Seed Farmer Podcast http://spreadsheet.farm/supportpodcast Links for this episode   Visit the Utopian Seed Project website & follow on Instagram.   Find Utopian Seed Project on Patreon.       Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram Get my weekly seed newsletter   Get my new book The Seed Farmer https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook/   ❤️ Thanks for listening!