From Gastro Obscura, July 28, 2022:
Tucked away behind a modest-sized home in Wales is a living repository of human history. Here, on a 3.5-acre garden, Adam Alexander grows around 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables at any given time. The fertile ground contains the progeny of seeds scooped up at markets from Aleppo, Syria, to Yangon, Myanmar. Carefully stored inside his home are jars containing more than 500 different types of heirloom seeds. At least 20 varieties are ones that might have gone extinct without Alexander’s intervention.
By some estimates, as much as 90 percent of crop varieties have disappeared, replaced by monocultural fields of corn, wheat, and soy. While nowadays a handful of varieties of corn, tomatoes, and other vegetables dominate the produce aisle, humanity once cultivated a wildly more biodiverse array of plants. In his forthcoming book The Seed Detective: Uncovering the Secret Histories of Remarkable Vegetables, which comes out September 29, Alexander traces the origins and evolution of vegetables that have shaped human civilization.
The book is the culmination of more than three decades of Alexander’s efforts to save endangered heirloom seeds from around the globe, as well as the stories they represent. He’s sometimes referred to as the “Indiana Jones of Vegetables,” although unlike Harrison Ford’s character, he has no interest in pillaging treasures only to let them rot in a museum....
....MUCH MORE
Now, if only he can get Martha Stewart to offer a tour of his house as a fundraising sweepstakes prize. From January 2018's "The Guy at Svalbard Who Might Save the World":
...In other Svalbard news, I'm not clear on all the details but apparently Martha Stewart is doing some fundraising for Crop Trust with a sweepstakes prize for donating:
I'm teaming up with @Prizeo to raise support for @croptrust! Enter to win a trip to Norway and we'll tour Svalbard Global Seed Vault with the scientists behind it! We'll also enjoy a polar tour, and a northern lights viewing reception! Donate to enter at https://t.co/0VaTWl6Vxm pic.twitter.com/kWQVlT3FJh— Martha Stewart (@MarthaStewart) December 21, 2017
