Indigenous Seed Libraries

Indigenous seed-saving traditions in Minnesota are being revived today through community and library programs that preserve ancestral crops and the knowledge behind them.

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Editor: Britt Aamodt

Producer: Faaya Adem

Editorial support: Emily Krumberger

Mixing & mastering: Chris Harwood
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Transcript

Welcome to MN90: Minnesota History in 90 Seconds.

For centuries, Dakota, Ojibwe and other Indigenous growers in Minnesota preserved seeds after each growing season. Each kernel carried memories of place, family and survival.

Seed saving wasn’t just about farming. It was about responsibility — a way to ensure that future generations would never go hungry, even after floods, droughts, or displacement.

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as industrial agriculture spread and hybrid crops took over, these traditional practices were pushed aside. But they never disappeared. Indigenous elders and seed keepers quietly held on, protecting ancient varieties of corn, beans, squash and more.

Today, communities and local libraries across Minnesota are reviving the practice of seed saving. Many now host seed libraries, where residents can “check out” seeds, grow them and return new ones after harvest. The White Earth Seed Library collects ancestral seeds along with the stories behind them, and Dream of Wild Health receives seeds from across the country to help rematriate varieties back to their Tribal Nations.

Each library is part of an effort to preserve biodiversity and honor knowledge that has long taken root in this state.

MN90 is produced by AMPERS, diverse radio for Minnesota's communities, made possible by funding from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Online at mn90.org.